Return of the Queen
by Crazy Packers Fan
Summary: The dark, murderous Cynthia rises to power in Sinnoh, and she attempts to take over the entire Pokemon world. Can Sabrina and some others stop her, or will she reign over them all? Reposted.
1. Prison Break

Chapter 1

Prison Break

The Sinnoh League was in turmoil. It was about nine months ago that three of the Elite Four - Aaron, Bertha and Flint - had all been mysteriously killed, apparently by someone using dark powers. It had later been discovered that Cyrus, the leader of the mysterious Team Galactic, had these powers and was possibly the one who was behind these attacks. However, when faced with a long jail sentence, Cyrus told the police that in reality those Elite had been sucked off the face of the earth by one of their own - Champion Cynthia. After a long battle, Cynthia was captured and brought to prison, along with her boyfriend Lucian.

But this was only what the television reports told the Sinnoh gym leaders. None of them believed that Cynthia was responsible for those deaths, and all of them thought that it was indeed Cyrus who had killed the Elite. The prevailing notion amongst them was that Kanto - where Cynthia was locked up, in Celadon City - was responsible for a massive propaganda campaign, with the purpose of continuing to keep Sinnoh out of power and allowing the Indigo League to keep its position as the top league. After all, Cynthia had been the best trainer anyone had seen outside Kanto or Johto - perhaps ever.

Thus in order to try to solve the problems of the league, the gym leaders called a meeting, where they all gathered in the Sinnoh League headquarters building, now vacant. It was clear right off the bat that none of them could agree on anything.

"This league is a joke, I tell you, a joke!" Byron yelled. "We've gone nine months without a champion, and no one seems to care!"

"Hey, I care!" Volkner replied. "As the top-ranked gym leader, I have the right to join the Elite in case of an absence… but after Flint was killed I just couldn't care anymore."

"We don't have even one Elite though, we have nobody! No champion, no one to lead us!" Wake commented.

"If I ran this league, we would have had a replacement champion right away, but no one listens to me!" Gardenia complained.

"Keep your shirt on," Maylene replied. "If you had the skills, then you'd have that right, but you don't. You're just a low-ranked gym leader."

"Hey, who's getting into rankings here? I thought we weren't going to talk about those today!" Roark yelled.

"But they _do _matter…" Volkner remarked.

Six of the gym leaders began arguing vehemently over whether they should factor in gym leader rankings into their discussion. Meanwhile, Fantina turned to Candice, looking very confused.

"_Classements?_ Why _classements _so important?" Fantina asked. "_Je ne comprends pas._"

"It's all about their egos," Candice replied, as she could perfectly understand and translate any of Fantina's broken language. "The high-ranked ones want to be important, while the low-ranked ones want their voices to matter too."

The gym leaders continued arguing, before Maylene finally spoke up.

"Look, everyone, it's clear that none of us has the respect of a champion!" she declared. "None of us could ever feel the gap that Cynthia has left us. She was a real leader, someone we really trusted. She took care of our land well."

"Like a queen," Gardenia commented.

This caused everyone to pause. Cynthia, after the killing of three of the Sinnoh Elite, had gone to the Indigo League and effectively taken over control of the league after champion Giselle was blackmailed. Then, in a television spectacle, Lucian placed a crown upon her head and she began calling herself "Queen Cynthia." This caused outrage amongst Kanto citizens, and eventually a large group of gym leaders worked to take her out of her position, leading to her arrest.

"She deserved to be queen," Wake said.

"Kanto hated her because she was from Sinnoh," Byron remarked. "I tell you, she would have been the perfect queen."

"She knew how to lead, unlike anyone else we've ever had here," Volkner said. "If she was here right now, everyone would be in perfect order. She was a queen."

"There's no way Cynthia killed your friend Flint!" Roark replied to Volkner. "I know she was better than that!"

"There's no question Cynthia is innocent," Maylene commented. "She was framed by Cyrus. We've got to find a way to get her back, where she belongs, as champion of the Sinnoh League."

"And as queen, if she so prefers," Gardenia added.

It only took a moment's notice for a couple of the leaders to have an idea.

"That's easy! Just show me the jail, and I'll dig her out! It can't be that difficult!" Byron declared.

"I'll help you, dad!" Roark chimed in. "We can break her out of prison and get her back to where she belongs!"

While the other six seemed to all agree on this, Fantina and Candice held their reservations.

"Prison break? Is that not _injuste_?" Fantina asked.

"I agree, there is no way we can just go break someone out of prison," Candice stated. "We have to prove her innocence, not bounce her from her cell."

However, their pleas for justice were quickly shot down.

"Look, Candice, do you want this league to continue to linger in turmoil?" Volkner asked. "We've had no leadership, no champion, and look what's happened. Hardly anyone comes to gyms for battles anymore - there's no need. There's no point in collecting all eight gym badges, if there's no Sinnoh champion to battle."

"Yeah, and hardly any of us were able to win a match at the Pokémon League," Roark added.

Candice smiled. Naturally, she was one of only two of the eight to have won a battle in the 2009 Pokémon League tournament, a 64-trainer tournament where six of them bombed out in their only match - even the mighty Volkner. Only Fantina also managed a win.

"We know Cynthia is innocent, don't we?" Gardenia asked.

"Let's find out," Wake said. "We each have some paper here. Everyone privately votes on whether they think she's innocent. If seven of us vote for her innocence, then we agree to break her out of jail."

The trainers took a moment to write down their votes, then Wake called for them to show their votes.

"Innocent," Roark said, holding up his piece of paper.

"Innocent," Gardenia added, with her vote saying the same.

"Innocent," Maylene stated.

"Innocent," Wake commented.

"Innocent," Byron said.

Volkner silently held up his vote, which read "innocent." Meanwhile, Fantina looked confused, and Candice refused to show her vote.

"Candice, as always, the contrarian," Maylene remarked. "Let's see it."

Candice held up her vote, which was just a large question mark.

"I really don't know," she said. "For all we know, she could-"

"No, she couldn't!" Volkner yelled, refusing to believe that Cynthia had killed his friend Flint.

"Anyway, we have six," Wake said. "It's up to Fantina."

Fantina continued to look around in confusion.

"Fantina, show your vote," Candice told her.

Fantina held up her piece of paper, which merely said "_non_."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Wake asked angrily.

"_Non coupable_," Fantina said. "Innocent."

Candice sighed. Meanwhile, the others looked happy about the result.

"Good, we have enough votes," Wake declared. "Now let's have Byron and Roark get back our champion."

* * *

The psychics Cynthia and Lucian were held in separate jail cells in Celadon City, both cells surrounded by dark mist to prevent them from escaping. Pokémon League champion Giselle, who had the power to create dark energy, used her powers to prevent either of the two psychics from teleporting out of their cells. Cynthia, despite her immense power, was locked away for months.

Not long after she was jailed it was discovered that she was pregnant, thanks to Lucian. Over those months she sat in the dark, with a baby growing inside her, until now, when her baby was finally born. Doctors came into her cell, helping her deliver her baby.

"It's a boy," one of them told her.

"A boy…" Cynthia replied. "Since he was born of royalty, I'll name him Roy."

Cynthia remained as vain as ever even after three-quarters of a year in jail, still feeling that she deserved to be queen.

"Please, allow my Lucian to see him," she requested.

"Absolutely not!" a doctor replied. "You two are too dangerous to be allowed to be together!"

The doctors left Cynthia all alone with her newborn baby, where she began to cry. She had not seen or spoken to her Lucian ever since she had been locked away, and Lucian had no idea even that she had become pregnant. Lucian thus had no inkling that he was now a father.

Meanwhile, it was a very strange night in Celadon City, where the citizens and police officers were as naïve as their gym leader, Erika. The prison was very lightly guarded; the officers figured that the dark mist which Giselle had put in place would be enough to hold Cynthia and Lucian in from ever teleporting away. No one was out on the street when Byron and Roark came flying in on a Dodrio, ready to break free their champion.

A few minutes later, the ground began to shake in Cynthia's cell. Within moments, Roark and Byron appeared, coming out of the ground, having dug out a hole into Cynthia's cell.

"Cynthia! We are here to free you!" Roark said.

"This was too easy," Byron declared. "Apparently Celadon City is too naïve - they never expected anyone to try to dig from the outside in."

"Thank you," Cynthia replied. "But please, free my Lucian as well - he's in the cell next to us."

The Celadon jail remained silent, as many of the police officers had taken off for the night. Only a couple guards remained, and they could not hear anything, due to Byron and Roark's skillful mining abilities. They dug to Lucian's cell, coming up out of the ground, seeing the purple-haired psychic.

"Oh?" Lucian asked.

"We're here to free you!" Roark said. "You and Cynthia!"

"My Cynthia?" Lucian wondered.

Cynthia then came out of the ground, holding onto her newborn baby.

"Cynthia… you… you had a son…" Lucian stated. "I don't believe it…"

"He's ours," Cynthia replied. "His name's Roy, short for royalty."

"Roy," Lucian responded, touching his son.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here, back to Sinnoh!" Byron said. "Let's go!"

The two miners then dug their way out of the prison, with Cynthia and Lucian following them. Once they were outside of the jail, Cynthia and Lucian immediately teleported away to Sinnoh, as they were no longer confined by the dark energy which inhibited their ability to teleport. Roark and Byron, still unnoticed by police, simply took a Dodrio back to Sinnoh.

* * *

Cynthia and Lucian stood before the eight Sinnoh gym leaders in the Pokémon League headquarters, dressed in fancy clothing. All of them applauded the fact that they were now free.

"I promise you," Cynthia declared, "I was not the one who killed the other Elite. That was Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic, who framed me. He is still in prison for other crimes he committed, so he has not gotten away."

"Cynthia, our champion," Volkner replied, "we want you in charge of our land. We need someone to be in control of Sinnoh, in charge of the league, to lead us."

Cynthia smiled innocently. "You mean, you want a queen?" she asked.

The others nodded their heads in agreement, save for Candice, who remained indifferent.

"I shall lead Sinnoh to prominence in the Pokémon world, as your Queen Cynthia," Cynthia declared. "We will not just sit back while Kanto tries to push us around. You've seen what they did to me. Sinnoh will not take their corruption anymore. We together will make war on Kanto and punish them for their evil deeds."

The gym leaders cheered, again save for Candice, who looked indignant.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lucian asked, holding on to his son. "Make her feel like a queen."

* * *

Not that Kanto did not notice this. The day after Cynthia escaped, police noticed, but realized it was too late. They knew how powerful Cynthia was, and they felt helpless. However, they did not know what to do. Officer Jenny of Celadon City wanted to crawl into a hole after allowing such a prisoner to escape. She went to the first person she could think of for help - gym leader Erika.

Erika was shocked, to say the least. How could this have occurred? She thought everything had been secured, but now Cynthia was on the loose. Immediately she went to her best friend Sabrina in Saffron City for help.

"Cynthia… has escaped," Erika told Sabrina in a state of panic.

Sabrina, nursing her newborn baby girl Roxette, was in no mood to hear something like this. However, she did not have any choice but to hear out Erika.

"Lucian too?" she asked Erika.

"Yes," Erika replied. "It appears she dug out."

"How is that possible?" Sabrina asked. "Don't those police officers know how to do their jobs?"

"I don't understand how it happened," Erika replied. "But somehow she and Lucian both were able to dig out of the jail, and now they're free, somewhere in Sinnoh."

"What are they going to do?" Sabrina asked. "Surely she can't make herself queen here again."

"No, but she could make herself queen _there_," Erika responded. "You know how powerful she is."

Sabrina sighed. "Yes, I know," she muttered. "I don't know what we're going to do about this."

* * *

Over the next few days, Cynthia officially became royalty in Sinnoh. Seven gym leaders signed official documents that made her queen of Sinnoh, with only Candice abstaining. Cynthia was given a golden crown and a large throne to sit upon. She wore her usual fancy black clothing as Lucian crowned her for all of Sinnoh to see, broadcast on Sinnoh television. The gym leaders then donated all sorts of gold jewelry to her, and she wore it extravagantly - large hoop earrings, beautiful necklaces, shiny wristbands. Last but not least, Lucian proposed marriage to her in front of millions of viewers, which she gracefully accepted. The queen of Sinnoh would be married to her love.

And then…

"I declare war on the land of Kanto," Cynthia declared. "We will conquer the entire land of Kanto and make it ours. Sinnoh is tired of being treated like a non-entity, and now we will take our revenge."

* * *

In Kanto, no one knew how to take this. At the Pokémon League, champion Giselle simply laughed.

"War? How?" she wondered. "This must be a joke."

Lorelei was more concerned. "You remember what Cynthia did to us here, last year," she said. "She wiped out almost all of us with the mere use of her fingers. She's that strong."

Lance agreed. "That woman has such extreme powers, dark ones and psychic ones," he stated. "If she has the chance, she could kill many people."

"You should be concerned," Agatha told Giselle. "If this land falls, you will no longer be champion."

"Trust me, there's nothing to worry about," Giselle said. "I've got everything under control."

Her boyfriend Joe, the fourth member of the Elite Four, simply rolled his eyes.

* * *

The eight Sinnoh gym leaders gathered at the Sinnoh League headquarters with their queen and her boyfriend, who was nursing his child.

"How are we going to make war?" Wake asked Cynthia.

"It's quite simple, actually," Cynthia replied. "As much as they think we're going to use some sort of guns and weapons, we aren't. We will simply go into a random city, the ten of us, and unleash our Pokémon. After much destruction, the gym leader will be forced to surrender, and we'll bring him or her to us as our prisoner. After we have enough of them captured, the Indigo League will have no choice but to surrender control over to me."

"Is this really the right thing to do, Cynthia?" Candice asked.

Cynthia reached her hand out. As she did, Candice fell from her seat onto the floor, smacking her knee badly.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"First of all, I will be called Queen Cynthia, and you will learn to call me that or else face my wrath," Cynthia replied. "Second, you will not question me; I am the queen, and I will make the decisions for this land. You chose me, after all."

Candice picked herself off the floor, rubbing her knee. "Most of us did, at least," she muttered.

"Understand that things are going to be run differently than they were in the past," Cynthia explained. "Before, we took what Kanto said and accepted it. They ruled the Pokémon world, they chose what they thought was morally right and wrong. I was considered to be morally wrong to them; they jailed me on the words of the leader of Team Galactic. Now it's different; Sinnoh will choose what is morally right and wrong. To oppose Sinnoh and its queen is to be morally in the wrong. That will go for both those outside Sinnoh…"

She then smiled sweetly at Candice.

"…and those in Sinnoh," she finished.

"I understand, Queen Cynthia," Candice meekly replied.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," she told the Sinnoh gym leaders, "I have important business to take care of."

She walked off with Lucian towards her room, where the two shared their happiness with each other in a very intimate way.

* * *

Sabrina was busy taking of her baby Roxette when she was interrupted by someone particularly annoying.

"Hi, it's the Pokémon League silver medalist here!"

Sabrina groaned. Ever since Liza managed to finish second place in the Pokémon League tournament, she had been bragging non-stop about it. She could not imagine what would have happened had Liza managed to win the whole thing.

"What is it, Liza?" Sabrina questioned.

"Oh, I just wanted to check in on Roxette," Liza replied. "She's such a cute baby, isn't she?"

"Yes, and it's hard enough to take care of her without you around bothering me," Sabrina said.

"Well, why don't you have your husband do something about that?" Liza asked.

"He has to work, you know?" Sabrina responded.

"Why? Have you suddenly gone poor?" Liza questioned with a laugh.

"You know, you're becoming too much like the girl you lost to in the championship," Sabrina replied.

Liza frowned. Being compared to the super-arrogant Giselle was never a good thing, nor was it fun for her to have her only loss in the tournament brought up.

"Oh, please, would you let me take care of her?" Liza asked, referring of course to Roxette.

"No, you're not touching her," Sabrina responded.

"You let your parents hold her!" Liza protested.

"Oh, all right," Sabrina replied, handing her baby over to Liza. Liza then cradled the baby in her arms, while Sabrina looked on nervously.

"What's the matter, Sabrina?" Liza asked.

"I'm afraid you'll drop her…" Sabrina responded.

"Relax," Liza said. "You worry too much."

Sabrina thought about this last statement. Was it true, that she worried too much? After all, she had been panicking recently about Cynthia's escape from prison. Could she just be too on edge?

"Liza, I have to wonder… are you concerned about what happened with Cynthia?" she asked.

"Let's see… a woman with the power to suck people into black holes who declared war on your land… no, I'm not concerned," Liza replied.

Sabrina sighed at Liza's remark, while Liza laughed. "This isn't funny!" Sabrina protested.

"I wonder… weren't you two friends at one time?" Liza asked.

"You mean, Cynthia and me?" Sabrina questioned.

"Yes," Liza said.

"Well, I guess at one time we were… but now she's a criminal. I could never be friends with someone like her," Sabrina responded.

"What if she… turned good?" Liza asked.

"She's not going to do that," Sabrina replied. "She's killed too many people."

"So you wouldn't forgive her," Liza questioned.

"No, I'd forgive her, it's just…" Sabrina sighed. "I can't imagine that happening."

"Oh, what are you worried about?" Liza asked. "Last time I saved Will's butt, so if Cynthia comes after you, I'll save everyone's butt again."

"That was Erika who saved everyone," Sabrina corrected her. "Give me back my child."

"No way!" Liza protested. "I still want to hold her… she's so cute."

* * *

The next day, in another meeting of the Sinnoh League, Cynthia proposed where to attack first.

"Saffron City," she said, making it plain and clear.

"But, Queen Cynthia!" Wake protested. "Wouldn't it make more sense to attack-"

"Saffron City," Cynthia repeated. "I'm not wavering. I have some unfinished business to take care of there."

"_Pourquoi_?" Fantina asked Candice in a whisper.

"It seems she holds a personal grudge against someone who lives there," Candice whispered back.

"Tomorrow all of us, save for my Lucian, will go to Saffron, where we will take over their city," Cynthia declared.

"Why not-" Byron started to say, before looking at Lucian cradling his baby Roy. "Oh, right."

"Everyone understand?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes," most of them replied, with Fantina adding a "_Oui_."

"Then tomorrow Saffron is the first to fall," Cynthia said.

_"And you, Sabrina, will finally pay the consequence for not being the strongest psychic in the world, while thinking you are,"_ Cynthia thought.


	2. Saffron Agony

Chapter 2

Saffron Agony

The next morning, with the temperature fairly cool, the eight gym leaders from Sinnoh flew into Saffron City on the backs of various Flying Pokémon. They were to be led by Volkner, who would signal to each of them with his Luxray's electric attacks when it would be time to attack. Cynthia, their queen, would teleport into the town at whichever time she pleased.

Once all the trainers were set in their designated positions, which were simply spots on the street corners on the outer edges of Saffron, Volkner had his Luxray shoot an electric bolt into the sky. Immediately most of the gym leaders unleashed their Pokémon and told them to attack the houses in front of them.

Citizens who were sitting in their houses were shocked to find their houses being attacked. It took only a few minutes for phone calls to reach the house of Sabrina's parents, the Saffrons, where they were taking care of Sabrina's baby Roxette.

"Yes, what is it?" Mr. Saffron asked.

"Our house is being attacked by some wild Pokémon!" the person yelled. "What is going on here?"

"Hold on, I have another call," Mr. Saffron said. "Yes?"

"There are Pokémon wrecking my house!" another citizen yelled. "We're under attack by someone!"

Mr. Saffron was definitely confused. His mansion was in a central portion of Saffron, so he could not see any of the attacks from outside his window. However, he decided to call up Sabrina and ask her about the situation.

"Sabrina, I'm getting all sorts of calls that people's houses are being attacked by wild Pokémon," her father told her on the phone. "Could you please check to see what they are talking about?"

Sabrina sighed, but she knew that since her parents were taking care of her daughter, she was free to now do this. She teleported outside, and sure enough, on one of the streets, she saw a large muscular man using his Gyarados to wreck into people's houses.

"Stop it!" Sabrina called.

The man, Crasher Wake, paid no attention to her, and kept on having his Gyarados thrash away. Sabrina then threw out a Poké Ball.

"Alakazam, take care of him!" she shouted.

Alakazam then attacked Gyarados with its Psychic attack and defeated it easily. Wake looked at Sabrina with a bit of confusion.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Sabrina, gym leader of this city," Sabrina replied. "And I will not let you just go around wrecking people's houses."

"Well, you may have stopped me, but I'm not the only one," Wake said. "Your city's going down!"

Sabrina gasped, then suddenly could see in her mind the various other places in the town which were being wrecked by Pokémon.

_Where's Will when I need him?_ she thought, noting that her husband was at work.

She quickly teleported over to where Byron was using his Bronzong to attack a house. This time, her Alakazam had a tough time taking down its opponent.

"Stop this!" Sabrina called.

"Absolutely not!" Byron replied. "We have declared war on your city!"

Sabrina then thought back to how Cynthia had declared war on Kanto. Apparently, she was starting her attacks right here, in Saffron City.

_Will,_ Sabrina called telepathically, _I need your help.

* * *

_

It did not take long for television reports to capture the attacks on Saffron City and broadcast them, even as they were ongoing. Reporters noted that six different groups of Pokémon were attacking various houses in the city.

"The people who are using their Pokémon to attack the city appear to be gym leaders from Sinnoh," the television broadcaster said.

Erika, watching this from her gym in Celadon City, immediately prepared to leave and go fight against the Sinnoh gym leaders.

"Good luck, Lady Erika," one of her assistants said.

"We wish you well, Lady Erika," another one told her.

"Thank you," Erika replied, as she headed out the door.

Meanwhile, Will had heard Sabrina's cry for help and had teleported to her side. His Pokémon and hers both worked together to take down Byron's Pokémon.

"Ha, good for you," Byron replied. "The damage is done. We'll have your city destroyed soon enough."

"Come on, Will, we have to split up and find these others who are attacking," Sabrina told her husband.

"Right," Will responded.

They quickly teleported in different directions, Sabrina meeting Volkner for a battle, while Will met Roark. Meanwhile, there were two of Sinnoh's own who had turned on their plan.

"_Je ne suis pas d'accord_," Fantina told Candice.

Candice nodded her head. "I feel the same way," she said. "I also disagree with Cynthia's plan. We must stop this destruction."

Candice pointed out that Maylene was attacking some houses down the street, and she told Fantina to stop her, while she went after Gardenia.

"_Cesse_!" Fantina yelled, while sending out her Drifblim to stop Maylene's Meditite.

"What are you doing?" Maylene asked. "We're on the same side, you know!"

Drifblim began to knock down Meditite, which angered Maylene even more. She sent out her Machoke to join the battle, but Fantina's Drifblim was so powerful that it took down Machoke as well.

"I can't believe this!" Maylene exclaimed. "You're a traitor to Sinnoh!"

Meanwhile, Candice froze Gardenia's Pokémon with her Snover. Gardenia was furious with Candice.

"What is with you?" Gardenia asked. "Do you wish to anger the queen so much that you're willing to fight against our own?"

"I'm only doing what I feel is right," Candice replied.

Also, Sabrina and Will had managed to defeat their opponents as well, which meant that all of the Sinnoh gym leaders who had attacked Saffron had been defeated. There was damage to quite a few houses, but no one had been killed.

"This has been a total failure," Volkner cried.

"No, it hasn't," a voice said.

Appearing before Volkner and Sabrina was Cynthia.

"Queen Cynthia!" Volkner exclaimed.

"I only wished for you to get Sabrina into a place where I could capture her easily," Cynthia replied.

Then she created a dark energy ball with her hands, entrapping Sabrina in it. Sabrina was absolutely helpless against her dark attacks, so she gave no resistance.

"Please, gather the other trainers and have them return to Sinnoh," Cynthia told Volkner.

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Volkner replied.

Cynthia then teleported away, with Sabrina stuck in the ball of dark energy. Watching this from a distance was Erika, who seemed greatly disturbed by what she had seen.

* * *

Cynthia brought Sabrina into the Sinnoh League headquarters. Releasing Sabrina from the dark energy ball, Cynthia sat upon her throne. Sabrina was now sitting on the ground, and she tried to move, but she found her motions completely stopped. Cynthia was completely stopping her from moving.

"What do you want with me?" Sabrina asked.

"I didn't get to kill you the last time we met," Cynthia replied.

Sabrina thought back to that nightmarish day, when Cynthia repeatedly kicked her in the face before nearly crushing her.

"Why? Why me?" Sabrina asked.

"You think you're the strongest psychic in the world, don't you?" Cynthia asked.

"No… no more… you are…" Sabrina replied.

"Why, thank you," Cynthia said. "I didn't have to force it out of you this time."

"Now please, let me go," Sabrina told Cynthia. "I have a baby at home to take care of."

"A baby? Now isn't that a coincidence?" Cynthia stated.

Lucian walked into the room holding onto their baby Roy.

"Is that yours?" Sabrina asked.

"He's our son," Cynthia responded. "His name is Roy, and he is destined to be greater than your daughter. Roxette, I believe her name is?"

"Don't talk about my daughter like that!" Sabrina yelled.

"You're in no position to be demanding things out of me," Cynthia said. "Sabrina, I want you to think back, over the last nine months, where have you been?"

"At home, mostly," Sabrina replied.

"And where have I been?" Cynthia asked.

"In jail," Sabrina answered.

"Now, the tables have turned," Cynthia replied. "But since I have no prison to put you in, I have an alternative for you."

She pulled out an Ultra Ball, releasing her Lucario.

"Lucario here is going to show you what a Dragon Pulse attack is like," Cynthia stated. "Right on you! Go, Lucario, Dragon Pulse!"

Lucario unleashed its Dragon Pulse attack on Sabrina, who fell to the ground in pain. She screamed out, feeling the extreme pain of Lucario's powerful attack.

"Please, stop, Cynthia!" Sabrina cried.

"That's Queen Cynthia to you!" Cynthia yelled. "Attack more, Lucario!"

Lucario increased its attack on Sabrina, causing her to go into convulsions on the floor. She screamed and cried, hoping that Lucario would stop.

"P-please, Q-Queen Cyn-thia," Sabrina cried weakly. "Show some mercy."

"Never!" Cynthia replied. "Attack!"

Lucario continued its attack, and Sabrina's torture continued. She convulsed on the floor helplessly, having no way of escaping.

_Will,_ Sabrina said telepathically. _Take care of Roxette for me._

She then closed her eyes and passed out.

* * *

Will heard Sabrina's cries in his mind and panicked. He did not know what he was supposed to do, but before he could do anything, he bumped into Erika, who had walked onto one of the streets in Saffron City.

"Lady Erika!" he exclaimed. "Please, you've got to help me, my Sabrina's in great pain!"

"I wish I could," Erika replied, "but I cannot teleport the way you can."

"I think my Xatu could carry you," Will said. "I feel Sabrina's presence in… eastern Sinnoh, the Pokémon League."

He released his Xatu, for Erika to board.

"Please, you must help Sabrina," he said. "I'll try to do whatever I can as well."

"I'll try," Erika replied.

Xatu then flew off into the distance, carrying the lightweight Erika, while Will teleported to the Sinnoh League.

* * *

The Sinnoh gym leaders gathered together, with most of their Pokémon knocked out. They were confused, not knowing what to do, now that their queen had just left with a prisoner.

"Does Queen Cynthia really care about having Sinnoh take over Kanto, or does she just have a personal grudge against someone from here?" Volkner wondered.

"I don't know, but I can say this: these two don't care about Sinnoh!" Maylene yelled, pointing at Fantina and Candice. "They turned on Gardenia and me! They are traitors!"

"Look, I just thought what you guys were doing is wrong, just attacking a city for no reason," Candice replied.

"We have a good reason!" Byron stated. "Queen Cynthia told us too!"

"Are you just going to do whatever she says?" Candice asked. "Maybe we need a better leader."

"I'll tell her you said that," Roark replied. "She won't like that."

"Oh, go ahead," Candice said. "I refuse to take place in your immoral activities."

"_Même ici_," Fantina added.

"What is wrong with you two?" Wake asked. "I thought we wanted a queen. Now it's back to the same old stuff."

"I know what to do…" Gardenia suggested. "Let's just bring them before the queen. We'll see what she thinks about them turning on us. That ought to be interesting."

"_Non, non_!" Fantina cried.

"I'm not scared," Candice replied. "Queen Cynthia may have powers, but how powerful really is she? I wonder if she can withstand the power of ice…"

The eight gym leaders then began boarding their flying Pokémon, preparing to head back to the Sinnoh League headquarters, to meet up with Cynthia.


	3. Komm, süßer Tod

Chapter 3

Komm, süßer Tod

Will arrived at the Sinnoh League headquarters, and he promptly walked inside. There he found Sabrina lying there on the ground, while Cynthia was sitting on her throne, laughing.

"What have you done to her?" he asked.

"I punished her," Cynthia replied.

"Why?" Will asked, rushing over to his fallen wife. "What has she ever done to you?"

"She's my main competitor in this world," Cynthia asked. "Or, rather, she _was_."

"Don't say that!" Will shouted. He then picked up Sabrina's lifeless body. "Oh no."

"Oh yes," Cynthia responded. "Sabrina is dead."

"You… you murderer!" Will shouted.

"And now, you shall die too," Cynthia added.

"No!"

Erika appeared at the entrance of the room.

"How did you get here so fast?" Will asked.

"Xatu must have the power to teleport people, because that's what he did to me," Erika replied.

She then turned to Cynthia. "Queen Cynthia, I challenge you to a battle, one on one!" she shouted.

Cynthia grinned. "Lady Erika, the woman responsible for my stay in prison," she said. "How wonderful it would be to have you suffer the same fate as Sabrina."

As Erika went to battle Cynthia, Will teleported back to Saffron City, holding his wife's body in his hands, while crying.

"No… no…" he cried. "This can't be…"

_Will, just get me to the hospital already!_

Will heard Sabrina's voice in his mind, and he did not know whether he was imagining it or if she had really telepathically spoke to him. Either way, he teleported to the Saffron hospital, carrying her with him. She was quickly admitted and put on life support by the doctors there. Apparently, she was still alive… just barely.

* * *

The "battle" had barely begun, and Erika found herself on the ground, powerless. She had been hit by a giant ball of dark energy by Cynthia, and it completely wiped her out. She looked up as Cynthia came walking towards her, ready to step right on her face.

"No, Queen Cynthia," she cried.

Just then, the eight gym leaders came into the headquarters building, all arguing with each other and carrying on. Cynthia did not want to kill Erika in front of them, so she merely gave Erika a kick in the face. Blood came streaming down the blue-haired girl's face as Cynthia addressed the gym leaders.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked.

"We're sorry, we failed miserably," Wake replied.

"Oh, no problem," Cynthia said. "I'm not mad at you… but I am upset with a certain two of you."

Candice and Fantina suddenly dropped to the ground, with the mere movement of Cynthia's finger.

"I am a merciful queen, because I am going to give you one more chance," Cynthia stated. "You choose to work with Sinnoh… or you can choose to end up like her."

She pointed at Erika, who lay on the ground in pain. Candice suddenly looked very nervous.

"We promise… we won't do that again," Candice said.

"I _promesse_," Fantina added.

"Good," Cynthia replied. "Now you may all go home for today. I have other business to take care of."

The gym leaders left the building, while Erika slowly tried to get up from the ground.

"I have no use for you, Lady Erika," Cynthia stated. "You shall die."

Erika quickly pulled out a Poké Ball. Out came her Gloom.

"Gloom, paralyze her," Erika said.

Cynthia quickly teleported away from Gloom, who released its Stun Spore in the air.

"You won't get me that easily," Cynthia stated.

* * *

Erika looked over to her left, seeing Xatu still standing there. Will had left it behind on purpose, in order to give Erika an escape route.

"Xatu… help me," she cried weakly.

Xatu flew over towards Erika and Gloom, then used its Teleport skill. Instantly the two Pokémon and the injured trainer disappeared from the room. Cynthia looked on, not upset at all.

"You shall die eventually, Lady Erika, and it will be at my hands," Cynthia stated.

Erika was teleported to Will's house, where Will found her and the Pokémon outside his door. He quickly called back his Xatu, used Erika's Poké Ball to return her Gloom, then picked Erika up and carried her to the Saffron Hospital. She was in a great deal of pain, and the doctors immediately went to work on trying to heal her wounds.

Meanwhile, Will checked in on Sabrina, who was still on life support. He walked over to one of the doctors, asking him what he thought of his wife's condition.

"I can't figure her out," the doctor said. "There's no way someone should be able to survive in this condition, but miraculously she lives on."

Will looked over his wife's body, as she lay there receiving oxygen.

_Will,_ she said telepathically.

_Yes, Sabrina?_ Will asked.

_Take care of Roxette… be a good father… make her a strong woman…_ Sabrina replied.

_I will,_ Will responded. _But you're going to be with me the whole way._

He squeezed Sabrina's hand, beginning to cry.

_I know you will, _he continued. _Please!

* * *

_

At the Indigo League headquarters, Giselle met with the rest of the Elite Four, to discuss what to do about the recent attack by Sinnoh on Saffron City.

"Normally I'm not moved by situations like this," Giselle declared. "But when that awful Cynthia thinks she's going to come here and actually take over, I get really angry!"

Joe rolled his eyes. Giselle had just previously been nonchalant about Cynthia's declaration of war on Kanto.

"So, I propose, that we, together, go to Sinnoh and bring Cynthia to justice!" she continued.

The others looked at Giselle with bewilderment. "Giselle," Lorelei said, "do you remember Cynthia's power?"

"Yes," Giselle responded. "I stood up against her well!"

"From what I heard, if not for Lady Erika, you would have lost for sure," Agatha stated.

"I didn't need her help… I would have won myself!" Giselle argued.

"Don't fool yourself, this is a powerful woman we're dealing with," Lance responded. "She nearly beat all those trainers by herself the last time we battled."

Giselle thought back, to the grand battle with Cynthia, where out of 15 trainers, only 4 of them managed to stay through the fight without being knocked unconscious.

"Well, what else are we going to do?" Giselle asked. "Sit around and allow these Sinnoh people to destroy our towns?"

Lance smirked. Giselle had fallen into his trap.

"Good, that's what I like to hear out of a champion," he said. "Now you're talking."

"Three-time defending champion, that is," Giselle corrected him.

"We're going to call up every one of our gym leaders and get them on our side," Lance said. "And it won't just be Kanto she's fighting against."

* * *

Karen and Bruno met Clair in her house in Blackthorn City. Together, they had a plan to resurrect Team Rocket.

"This Team Rocket will not make the same stupid mistakes of the past Team Rockets," Karen declared. "We will not try to overextend ourselves, or make any grand plans. We will not make ourselves obvious, or try to do too much. It will be through the use of simple propaganda, taking advantage of this 'queen' of Sinnoh."

"Cynthia will help unite our forces," Bruno said.

"Yes, she will," Karen continued. "This 'royalty' will be our focus point, as we turn people against Sinnoh. In the meantime I will be their leader, with you two as my executives. And together, we will unite all the Pokémon lands under us, as they will accept us as their leaders because they fear Cynthia so much. Then Team Rocket shall rule this world, not some queen!"

"It sounds so easy, yet who will join us?" Clair asked.

"It starts…" Karen replied, pausing for effect, "…with your cousin, Lance."

* * *

Clair called up Lance at the Elite Four. Lance was happy to hear from his cousin, as he had planned on calling her anyway. He had no knowledge of her possibly being part of Team Rocket.

"Clair? How are you?" he asked.

"Just fine," Clair replied. "But I've heard some disturbing reports lately."

"You mean about Cynthia and the Sinnoh gym leaders attacking Saffron City?" Lance asked.

"Yes, those would be the ones," Clair replied.

"We're greatly upset by them as well," Lance said. "We are really having a hard time deciding what to do about them."

Clair smirked. "Well, right now I know exactly what we're going to do about them," she said.

"What is that?" Lance asked.

"Currently I am forming a team of trainers that will serve as persuasion experts," she replied. "We are going to spread negative rumors about Sinnoh across the Kanto and Johto regions, until everyone is fully aware of the need to be united against Sinnoh. Then, once we have enough support, we will make our move, and swiftly destroy Sinnoh's hopes of taking over our lands."

"That sounds like a great idea," Lance responded. "Who is part of this team?"

"So far, it's myself, and a couple of others you may know," Clair stated. "Their names: Karen and Bruno."

Lance looked a bit shocked at hearing those names. Weren't Karen and Bruno bent on creating a new Team Rocket quite a few months ago?

"Don't worry, they have no intention on recreating Team Rocket," Clair added. "Their mere goal is to keep our lands safe."

"Oh, okay," Lance responded. "Well, in that case, I'm sure that we can help in any way we can."

"Thank you," Clair said. "Just remember that we're the ones in charge of this campaign, so feel free to call us at any time you wish."

"I will," Lance replied, before ending the conversation.

Clair smiled. "He's on board," she announced to Karen. "He's just as naïve as ever."

Karen laughed. "Figures," she said. "Remember, the key word is _persuasion_, not propaganda. We're only _persuading_ people, not propagandizing."

"It's the same thing," Bruno commented.

"Of course it's the same thing!" Karen shouted. "But slowly, as we get people angry at Sinnoh and their 'queen,' they'll have to turn to someone. That's when I will emerge, as the one who will lead Kanto and Johto against their foes. Then you two and I will become the leaders of this world - not that Cynthia! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Karen continued laughing even while Bruno held his reservations on their whole idea - it seemed to him that as much as Karen hated the idea of Cynthia being queen, Karen herself wanted to be a queen.

* * *

Erika lay in her hospital bed, slowly recovering from her injuries. She called over to a nurse.

"Yes, Lady Erika?" she asked.

"Please, could you tell me how Sabrina is doing?" Erika requested.

"Okay," the nurse replied.

The nurse went walking down the hall towards the Intensive Care Unit where Sabrina was at. As she came closer, she heard a man sobbing loudly. She finally walked into the room, where she saw Will crying hysterically.

"Sabrina is dead," a doctor told the nurse. "If you'd please excuse us."

The nurse left the room, while Will continued crying.

_Sabrina, _he thought. _Please, just say something… let me know you're alive…_

He got no response, and he continued to cry. His worst nightmare had come true.


	4. Bring Me to Life

Chapter 4

Bring Me to Life

Will leaned over his wife, hoping for any sign of life. She looked completely lifeless to him, however.

"Sabrina!" he cried. "Sabrina!"

He grabbed her hand, still sobbing. When he squeezed it, he noticed something coming out of it… a dark, mysterious mist.

That was when Sabrina opened her eyes, with them glowing a dark red.

_I have succeeded,_ she said telepathically to Will.

"You're alive!" he shouted, much to the doctors' surprise, who only now saw her eyes open.

_It happened exactly as I hoped,_ Sabrina continued.

_What?_ Will asked. _I don't understand…_

_I absorbed some of Cynthia's dark powers when she attacked me,_ Sabrina explained. _And now…_

She reached her hand out, as dark mist poured out.

_I am like her,_ she finished.

_You mean, you have dark powers too now?_ Will asked.

_That's right, Will, _Sabrina replied. _It took me nearly dying to gain them, but now… I will be able to stand up to her… and I will be the one who defeats her._

_I'm just so thankful you're alive,_ Will replied, kissing her.

The doctors were amazed at her survival. They were shocked when she sat up in bed, trying to remove the equipment attached to her.

"Don't touch that!" they cried. "You still need it!"

"No, I don't," Sabrina replied, her eyes returned to normal. "I made it through… now I'll be fine."

She stood up, with each and every one of them being completely astounded.

"What is going on?" one of them asked. "We thought you were dead!"

"I had to come close to death in order to gain the powers I wanted," Sabrina replied. "But now…"

She reached her hands out, creating a small black hole.

"I have the power to stand up against my enemies," she finished.

While the doctors talked to each other about how amazing it was to see her alive and well, she walked with Will out of the room. As the two walked down the hallway, they saw Erika lying in her bed.

"Sabrina? They told me you were dead," Erika stated.

"Almost," Sabrina replied. "But I am like you now."

Sabrina reached out her hand, and a dark mist came oozing out.

"That's excellent," Erika said. "Now you can defeat Cynthia."

"And I will, Lady Erika," Sabrina responded. "You focus on getting well."

Sabrina and Will continued on their way out of the hospital, with Will squeezing her right hand tightly. Powers or no powers, he was just happy to see her alive.

* * *

Cynthia lay in bed with Lucian, enjoying a romantic moment. Lucian had both of her hands on her chest, as she squealed in delight. The two could not be happier.

That was when suddenly Cynthia pulled away.

"I'm sorry," Lucian said. "Did I hurt you?"

"No," Cynthia replied. "I just felt something really awful in my mind… it's Sabrina."

"Is she alive?" Lucian asked.

"She must be… but that's not all… her powers have increased," Cynthia answered.

"I don't understand, I thought you squeezed the life out of her," Lucian responded.

"She must have tried to absorb my dark powers when I attacked her, and then in coming close to death, she was able to gain that power for herself," Cynthia explained.

"So you think now she has your powers?" Lucian asked.

"Maybe some of them," Cynthia replied. "But she's still not nearly as powerful as me."

She and Lucian went back to their intimacy, as they enjoyed a long, romantic kiss.

* * *

Lance called up gym leaders Gold and Whitney from Johto on the videophone, trying to convince them to help fight in a potential battle against Cynthia. This time, however, both refused.

"Last time we got into that, we almost got killed," Gold stated.

"I'm not risking my life over something that doesn't affect me," Whitney added.

"But this involves all of us," Lance pleaded.

"No, it doesn't," Whitney replied. "It just involves Kanto, not Johto. Cynthia didn't declare war on Johto, did she?"

"No, she didn't…" Lance sighed.

"So there's no reason for us to get involved," Gold said.

That was where the conversation ended. Lance was frustrated by the abrupt end to their talk, but he had to admit: they had a point. Cynthia had apparently declared war on only Kanto, not Johto.

"Giselle, we've got problems," Lance called.

"What is it?" Giselle asked sweetly.

"Those Johto trainers are refusing to help us," Lance responded.

"What? Are they afraid of being shown up by me once again? Oh, it's probably my fault for making them look so bad by comparison!" Giselle exclaimed.

"Even if that is the case," an annoyed Lance replied, "they're not helping us this time around."

"Well, that's just fine," Giselle said. "Because you know I can do it all myself anyway."

"I'm sure," Lance responded. "I'm going to call up some of the Kanto trainers… maybe they'll help us."

* * *

Sabrina returned home with Will, where Liza was waiting for them.

"I heard you had some problems," Liza told Sabrina. "Looks like you could have used some help."

"She almost died, it's not funny!" Will exclaimed.

Sabrina simply reached out her hand, creating some dark mist with it, to show Liza.

"Ooh… how did you get that?" Liza asked.

"I absorbed some of Cynthia's powers," Sabrina replied. "It took me coming close to death, but I survived, and this means I'll be able to stand up against her."

"Oh, so this was all because of your hunger for power?" Liza asked. "So you risked your life just to gain more power? Where are your priorities, Sabrina?"

Sabrina glared at Liza. "If I don't become strong enough to defeat Cynthia, I'll die anyway!" she exclaimed.

"No, I'm pretty sure you could survive without doing that," a mischievous Liza replied. "Just beg her for mercy, call her queen… she loves flattery, you know."

"I tried those things," an angry Sabrina stated. "She wants me dead, and the only way I'm going to survive is by taking her down with my own hands."

Liza smiled cheekily at Sabrina. "I don't think so!" she said. "You'll need lots of help! You try to beat Cynthia alone, with your newfound powers, and you'll get embarrassed again!"

Sabrina's glare became even angrier. "We'll see about that," she said. "Will, you make sure my parents are taking good care of Roxette. I'm going back to Sinnoh, and I'm going to stop Cynthia in her tracks!"

Will grabbed Sabrina's arm. "No, you're staying right here with me," he said. "Not until you learn how to use your newfound powers will I let you even think about battling her."

"Will, you heard me, I'm-"

"Sabrina, I almost lost you once," Will told her. "I don't want to lose you again."

He kissed her on the lips, calming her down greatly.

"Okay, but I'm not taking any more out of you!" Sabrina shouted at Liza, who merely giggled. "You're going to either help us or go away, but you won't continue to argue with me!"

"Oh, relax, Sabrina," Liza said. "You're just all worked up because you got embarrassed by Cynthia again. Let's face it, you have an inferiority complex with her."

Sabrina paused to think about it. "I guess you're right," she muttered. "It seems that Cynthia's got it all… she's been a champion of her own league, she has unbelievable power, and now she's a queen. I don't have any of that."

She thought about her own gym, where she had her own throne. "I always wanted to be queen," she continued. "I sat on my throne with my doll and pretended I was queen of Saffron City. I thought someday I would have such power, but it never came to be. When I had my chances at winning the Pokémon League and gaining such power, I failed."

"But then I came along," Will said.

"Yes, and I forgot all about such plans," Sabrina added. "But now, I feel those feelings again, my insatiable hunger for power. I won't be satisfied until I'm on a throne staring down at that awful Cynthia."

"Relax," Will stated. "I don't think that's exactly what any of us want…"

* * *

"What do you mean, you won't help?" Lance yelled angrily on the phone.

He was talking to Misty of Cerulean City, who seemed not to care about Cynthia at all.

"Oh, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm sure she wasn't serious," Misty said. "Right now I'm too busy trying to get some stupid boy to stop caring so much about his Pikachu and start growing up a little bit. You can talk to my sisters, though…"

_Oh no,_ Lance thought.

"Hey, Lance, like, what's up?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, like, what do you want from us?" Violet asked.

"Well, I was hoping you would-"

"Now, come on, Lance, out with it! Like, I have a boyfriend, I don't have time for this!" Daisy replied.

"Boyfriend? Now just wait a minute, I have important things to tell you!" Lance exclaimed.

"Oh, he's just taking up our shopping time! If this involves serious matters, like, talk to Misty!" Violet said.

"But I just did talk to her! And she-"

"Whatever! We don't have time for this! Bye, Lance!" Daisy exclaimed. And she turned off the videophone.

Lance was furious. "Why, those Cerulean sisters!" he yelled. "They're clueless! They'll be the first ones to fall! They're too busy thinking about stupid stuff to care about what could be the destruction of this land!"

"Relax, Lance," Lorelei told her husband, leaning over his shoulder. "Just cool it, everything will work out."

"What, are we going to need our hero Giselle to save the day?" Lance asked.

"Hero_ine_," a voice corrected him.

"Oh, would you just go away?" Lance asked. "I don't see you helping!"

"I've done a lot for this Pokémon League, I've kept it from collapsing!" Giselle exclaimed. "If you need me to do anything more, it's going to cost you!"

"Giselle, you have over ¥300,000,000 in your bank account!" Lance cried. "I'm not paying you to do anything about this Pokémon League! It'll be your own money you lose!"

"Oh, whatever," Giselle replied. "If Cynthia and her Sinnoh people attack us again, I'll be the one to stop them, you hear?"

"I'll take your word for it," Lance responded. "I need your help one way or another."

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Giselle exclaimed. "Finally, a man besides my Joe who realizes he's dependant on a woman!"

Lance grumbled as Giselle walked away bragging. He secretly hoped that Cynthia _would_ defeat Giselle, just so he would not have to hear her go on and on like this anymore.

Unfortunately for him, even if this little dream of his came true, it could mean even worse things for the land of Kanto.


	5. You Can't Forget the Past

Chapter 5

You Can't Forget the Past

The next morning, Cynthia sat on her throne, wearing her crown and her gold jewelry, thinking about the past, and how she got to this position. It was a long road…

(January 1994)

"You turn 10 today, Cynthia! So here's a present for you!"

The young Cynthia looked thrilled to see an Ultra Ball. She opened it to reveal a Riolu.

"Oh, thank you, mommy!" Cynthia cried.

"Our little princess, isn't she so cute with her new Pokémon?" her mother commented.

(March 1994)

Cynthia was undefeated after two months of battling, and her Riolu is now a Lucario. She went to her room, where she had her own throne to sit on, and a plastic tiara. She put it on.

"Now, Lucario, let's play castle!" she said. "I'm the princess, as always."

Lucario snuggled with Cynthia happily.

"Oh, Lucario, you're so cute," Cynthia said.

(January 1995)

Cynthia, very interested in the history of the Sinnoh region, was taking out some books from a library. She met a boy there who is doing the same.

"Hi, what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Cynthia, but you can just call me Princess," Cynthia responded.

"Princess," the boy responded. "I like that… I'm Lucian."

After that day, Lucian began studying about Sinnoh's history with Cynthia. Every day he visited her at her home, where she sat on her throne, pretending to be a princess.

"Wouldn't it be great if you were a princess someday?" Lucian asked her.

"Yes, when I grow up I want to be champion of this region, and then queen," Cynthia responded.

The thought made Lucian smile with glee.

"You will be, I promise you," he responded.

(June 1997)

Lucian turned 13, and for his birthday he received a large amount of money from his parents. He immediately spent all of it on buying Cynthia a real crown, made of silver. In a ceremony before their Pokémon, Lucian crowned Cynthia, declaring her the princess of Celestic Town.

"I'm charmed, Lucian," Cynthia told him. "Here, I'll give you your birthday present."

She kissed him on the lips.

"You keep doing things like this for me, and I'll keep giving you what you want," she said.

Lucian took this advice to heart.

(January 2000)

At the age of 16, Cynthia became a member of the Elite Four. She continued to win matches at an alarming rate, only having lost several to visiting trainers from Kanto - never to a fellow trainer from Sinnoh.

"Princess Cynthia," Lucian said to her, as she received her badge for becoming a member of the Elite, "I am honored to know someone like you."

"Lucian, you shall join me someday here," Cynthia replied. "And we together will be on top of the Pokémon League."

(March 2002)

Cynthia, at the age of 18, became Sinnoh League champion, while Lucian joined the Elite Four. When Cynthia was announced as champion, Lucian watched with awe, seeing his beautiful girlfriend lay claim to the top spot in Sinnoh.

"I'm so happy that Lucian will get to be with me in the Elite Four," she said to those awarding her the championship.

When the two were left alone, they shared some of their thoughts together.

"Finally, our dreams are coming true," Lucian told Cynthia.

"Not yet," Cynthia responded. "I'm not queen yet."

"You will be," Lucian replied.

(March 2003)

Cynthia had been champion for a whole year now, and Lucian had moved up to the top spot in the Elite Four. Yet Sinnoh's league was given little recognition by the Indigo League, not even invited to the big Pokémon League tournament.

"This isn't fair!" Cynthia cried. "I could win it all, become champion of the Pokémon world!"

"Kanto has something against us," Lucian commented. "They're afraid of us."

"They should be," Cynthia replied.

(July 2004)

Still not accepted by the Indigo League, Cynthia became more and more upset at the land of Kanto. Yet she remained satisfied, living most of the time with her parents and grandparents in Celestic Town, studying Pokémon mythology.

It was over that period of time that she began to develop dark powers. No one understood how they came about, but she gained the power to create black holes and dark energy. She had already been the first person in her family to be born with psychic powers; now her family found this to be even more amazing.

"You have such great power," her father told her. "Never abuse that power."

Lucian, however, had different plans.

"This is it," he said. "This is what we've been waiting for, our big break. Now you can use these powers to get what you want - to become queen."

"Nonsense, Lucian, what good is becoming queen if it's only by force?" Cynthia replied. "I want people to recognize my royalty and respect me."

"No one respects us here in Sinnoh! They think we're inferior!" Lucian exclaimed. "You _will_ be queen. And you may have to use your powers to gain your rightful position."

(September 2004)

Cynthia met a woman visiting from the land of Johto named Karen. Karen revealed to Cynthia that she also had dark powers, but was unaware how to use them correctly. Cynthia, who had trained to become more powerful than most Pokémon, decided to begin teaching Karen how to use her dark powers.

As she did, all of her vanity and obsession with royalty rubbed off on Karen.

(September 2005)

Karen left Celestic Town after a year of training under Cynthia and went back to her land of Johto. Cynthia continued to research ancient Pokémon, but her hunger for power became insatiable. She wanted to become queen, and she wanted it now. She hated the other members of the Elite Four - Aaron, Bertha and Flint. They annoyed her greatly and refused to recognize her as special. Someday, she promised herself, they would regret this action.

(December 2005)

Cynthia's parents left Celestic Town to visit the Silph Company. They were interested in the new Master Ball project, which they hoped to obtain in order to capture rare Pokémon. At the same time, Team Rocket had risen to power in Saffron City and had taken charge of the Silph Company building. Not many people realized this, but Mr. and Mrs. Celestic (Cynthia's parents) recognized that Team Rocket was pulling the strings behind the company. Giovanni wanted an end put to it.

(March 2006)

Mr. and Mrs. Celestic, still working with the Silph Company as they hoped to acquire their Master Balls, were yet quite concerned with the direction the company was heading. Could these Master Balls be used to steal other people's Pokémon? They were definitely against anything like that. When they found out that it was an intention of the company to make the Master Balls able to steal others' Pokémon, they threatened to leak the information to the public. However, Giovanni found out, and told his executives, Sabrina, Lt. Surge, Koga and Blaine.

"Something must be done about these people, before they ruin us," Giovanni said.

"Leave it to me," Sabrina replied.

Sabrina, whose mind was controlled by Mewtwo at the time, had the perfect plan.

(April 2006)

Sabrina lured Mr. and Mrs. Celestic into her office for a meeting. She called out Mewtwo from its resting area. Mewtwo subsequently used its Fire Blast, Blizzard and Psychic attacks on Mr. and Mrs. Celestic, and killed them. However, as commanded by Giovanni, Sabrina manipulated the scene to make it look as if an accident had occurred, then teleported away. Reports were issued to the press that Mr. and Mrs. Celestic had been killed by Mewtwo in a severe accident at the Silph Company building. Sabrina's mind was being controlled at the time, so she never remembered this later. In fact, not even any psychic was powerful enough to figure out what had happened. Except one… Cynthia.

"Cynthia, your parents were killed in an accident," her grandmother told her. "You and your sister will have to live with us now."

"It was no accident!" Cynthia cried. "It was a crime!"

"All the forensic experts in Kanto inspected the scene," her grandfather said. "The only way that could have happened if there was a psychic strong enough to have his or her mind linked with Mewtwo's - but we know there is none. Any psychic would be killed by Mewtwo immediately, because there's no one strong enough to at least have his or her mind linked - not even you."

"That's not true! There is one!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"We understand, you're just in denial right now," her grandmother replied. "Wounds will heal."

(June 2006)

Cynthia could not take it anymore, living in such a small house with her sister and her grandparents. This was not a life fit for a queen. She started spending more time away from her home, until she eventually moved in with Lucian in his apartment at the Sinnoh League. There she told him what only she knew.

"Your parents… were murdered?" Lucian asked.

"By a psychic named Sabrina," Cynthia replied. "She's the gym leader of Saffron City."

"What did she have against your parents?" Lucian questioned.

"That I do not know, but she is a powerful psychic," Cynthia responded. "Perhaps she found out how powerful I am, and was angry about that."

"I believe you, Cynthia," Lucian said. "I know that you have the power to figure that out."

"I know you do," Cynthia replied.

"But what are you going to do about this Sabrina?" Lucian asked. "She lives too far away and must be too powerful for you to confront on your own."

"I hate her!" Cynthia exclaimed. "I hate her, hate her, hate her! I will never forgive her! Someday I will sit on my throne as queen, while taking my revenge on her! She will never get away with this!"

"Make no mistake about it, she will suffer punishment for this… all the more reason for you to become queen," Lucian replied.

(August 2006)

Unbeknownst to Cynthia, shortly after this conversation, Sabrina regained control over her mind and turned against Team Rocket. She had no idea that she was responsible for killing Cynthia's parents - but she ended up regaining her memory while in the midst of trying to kill her own parents, in the same exact way.

(January 2007)

Yet another Pokémon League tournament goes by without Sinnoh's trainers being invited to take part in it. Cynthia, known better to Kanto trainers by her nickname of "Shirona," finally convinced the Indigo League to accept the Sinnoh League into their tournament for the following year. Cynthia made it clear that she fully intended on winning this tournament to show how strong Sinnoh has become.

(July 2007)

Cynthia sat in Lucian's apartment with him when she suddenly felt the telepathic call for help from someone far away. It was Sabrina.

"She wants me to help her friend," Cynthia told Lucian. "She thinks she's the strongest psychic in the world, yet she needs my help. How pitiful."

"Kill her, don't help her!" Lucian replied.

"Patience, Lucian," Cynthia said. "I don't know what kind of powers she has. Perhaps she is more powerful than me, I'm not sure. I'll challenge her to a Pokémon battle and lose on purpose in order to judge exactly how powerful she is."

The next day…

Sabrina appeared in a room by herself. She looked around, seeing unfamiliar surroundings._Did I somehow teleport to the wrong place?__ she thought._

_No, you didn't,_Sabrina heard a voice say._ She then saw Cynthia teleport into the room._

_You have come here from Saffron City, because you want my help,_Cynthia said telepathically.

_That is correct,_Sabrina replied.

_You also think you're a more powerful psychic than me,_Cynthia stated.

_I don't just think that; that's the truth,_Sabrina responded.

_You're mistaken,_Cynthia stated._There is no more powerful psychic than me._

_Are you going to help me or not?_Sabrina asked angrily.

_Considering you need my help, that pretty much proves my point,_Cynthia stated.

_Sabrina pulled out a Poké Ball in anger. __You really don't want to battle me, do you?_she asked Cynthia.

_One on one battle,_Cynthia said.

_Fine,_Sabrina stated_. __Go, Mewtwo._

_Go, Milotic,_Cynthia said.

From there, Cynthia lost the battle soundly, while keeping an eye on her opponent the whole time. Reading Sabrina's mind, it was clear to Cynthia that she had no powers other than her psychic ones, and no intention on trying to attack her. This was a bit disappointing to Cynthia, who was partially hoping that Sabrina would attack her, allowing her the opportunity to take revenge. But that moment never happened.

After losing the battle, Cynthia agreed to go with Sabrina to Saffron City to help her with her problem. This was not the time to take her revenge; she would need a better opportunity.

_Shirona,_Will said_, seeing the woman next to Sabrina._

_You're Will, Sabrina's boyfriend,_Cynthia replied_._

Sabrina blushed_. __You could say that,_she stated_._

_A friend of ours, Liza, has had her personality removed from her,_Will told Cynthia_. __We need your help._

_I know that, _Cynthia responded_. Who do you think I am?_

Cynthia then helped restore Liza's personality, and both Sabrina and Will were grateful, completely clueless that Cynthia held great animosity towards Sabrina, as she hid her feelings.

"There's a ghost in Olivine City," Sabrina said. "I feel some sort of presence there."

"I can feel it too," Cynthia replied. "It must be stopped."

"Let's teleport there now," Sabrina suggested.

"I'm sorry," Cynthia said, "but I have to go back to Sinnoh… I have some battling to do there."

"The three of us can go, then," Sabrina stated.

"Wait a minute, I can't teleport," Will responded.

"Come on, Will, just focus," Sabrina said. "It's not much different from trying to channel a spirit... I know you can do it."

"I'll see you some other time," Cynthia stated. "So long."

"Good-bye, and thank you," Sabrina told her.

Cynthia teleported away. As much as she wished she could take her revenge now, she was afraid that Sabrina had some sort of trap set for her, so she chose not to attack Sabrina at this time.

(August 2007)

Cynthia and Lucian began trying to come up with a plan to lure Sabrina into their presence.

"There are those ridiculous Team Galactic members," Cynthia suggested. "If they were to try some sort of destructive plan, we may just be able to lure Sabrina out here in order to 'help' us stop them. Then she would be easily defeated."

"Even better," Lucian remarked, "why don't you talk to their leader and get him to work for us?"

"Oh, I know," Cynthia said. "I'll have him go over to the Indigo League and try to get funding from them, with him claiming to be a scientist. Then, he can take their money and use it in an attempt to do something destructive, which then they will have to stop themselves because it will be their fault. They'll send over their strongest trainer, which will have to be Sabrina, and when she's over here, her goose will be cooked."

"Team Galactic has crazy ideas, like awakening legendary Pokémon," Lucian commented. "Why not convince them to attempt to awaken one of them, knowing full well that you can stop them, but force Sabrina to come over here and help us?"

"Perfect," Cynthia responded. "That's exactly what I'll do."

(September 2007)

After secretly getting the support of Cynthia and Lucian, Cyrus went to the Indigo League headquarters to try to secure funding from them. While Team Galactic was fairly known in Sinnoh, they were unheard of everywhere else, and thus the Elite Four bought into his plan in no time. The only one who objected was champion Giselle, who would prove to be a thorn in Cynthia's side.

(December 2007)

Cynthia put the plan into motion, where Cyrus was to awaken the legendary Pokémon Palkia. She then called for help from the Indigo League, telling them she needed their strongest trainer. She was shocked when she found out who they chose to send over.

"Giselle? Who is she?" she asked Lucian.

"The Indigo League champion," Lucian replied. "I don't know, she must be pretty good."

"That's only because she never got to battle me," Cynthia said. "I'd ask for Sabrina, but that would make it too obvious. I'll just have to allow this Giselle to stop Cyrus. He's useless to me anyway."

Thus Giselle and her boyfriend Joe flew to Sinnoh and stopped Cyrus, with Cyrus utterly confused on why Cynthia was against him. Later, he and Cynthia had a talk.

"Cyrus, if you ever want any of your plans to be funded, you're going to have to work with me," Cynthia said. "You and your executives will obey my orders and do whatever I say. Then, and only then, will I offer you the money of the Sinnoh League, and allow you to pursue your fruitless goals."

Cyrus was desperate. He had burned through almost all of his money in the plan that Giselle had foiled.

"I promise, I will," he replied. "I just need that money."

(January 2008)

For the first time ever, Sinnoh was invited to the Pokémon League tournament. However, things went haywire for them. Lucian was seeded against one of Sinnoh's best gym leaders, Candice, in the first round. He won the battle, then was shocked by Gold, a Johto trainer, in the second round. Fantina shocked everyone with two wins in the tournament, but the only other one to win a match was Cynthia, who won four matches before ending up against Giselle in the semifinals. Giselle then defeated Cynthia in an epic Pokémon battle, with Lucario being the final Pokémon to fall for Cynthia. When she collected her bronze medal, she felt like ripping it off her neck. A semifinal loss did not prove anything to the Indigo League, who continued to look down upon the Sinnoh League.

(May 2008)

Sabrina and Will got married, and Cynthia was one of the thousands of people invited to their wedding. At first this seemed like the perfect scene: Sabrina could be killed in front of thousands of people in the ultimate act of revenge for her deeds. However, Cynthia realized that even with her power, this would be the wrong place to go about it. If she committed a criminal act in front of all these people, she would never be accepted as queen. So she faked a "Congratulations" to Sabrina and Will, who had no idea how upset she was at them. She later found Giselle and made it clear to her that she - and Sinnoh - would no longer take the Indigo League's condescending attitude. Giselle simply laughed Cynthia off, angering her even more. However, it was at that time that Cynthia discovered that Giselle was slowly obtaining dark powers. She kept this a secret to all but Lucian.

(June 2008)

Lucian felt it was finally time for Cynthia to become queen of Sinnoh. He made it clear to Aaron, Bertha and Flint that Cynthia was going to take over as queen. All three of them refused.

"You're going to have to show them your power," Lucian told Cynthia.

"By… killing them?" Cynthia asked. "Lucian, if I do that I'll never be accepted as a queen by the people."

"No one understands these dark powers well enough," Lucian explained. "We know that Cyrus has the same powers, and you said that Giselle was gaining them. If you were to suck the other Elite into a black hole, we could dump the blame on one of those two. After all, it was only your parents who knew about your powers."

"But Cyrus right now is in Kanto," Cynthia replied. "If this happened only here in Sinnoh, then he wouldn't be accused, and neither would Giselle."

"Then we have Cyrus go destroy some place in Kanto, and send the Pokémon world into panic," Lucian suggested. "Oh! And I have an even better idea!"

"You want me to blackmail Giselle and then take her spot as Pokémon League champion," Cynthia responded.

"Not just as champion but as queen," Lucian added.

"But we're going to have to be made to look like the heroes in all this, otherwise I won't ever get accepted as queen," Cynthia replied. "Maybe… if I convince Sabrina that I'm innocent, Kanto will have their most powerful psychic believing a lie and feeding right into our plan. Then I'll later kill Sabrina once she discovers the truth."

The plan went into action, and it worked nearly flawlessly. Cynthia sucked Aaron, Bertha and Flint into a black hole, as those were the first people she ever killed in her life. Immediately afterward, Cyrus destroyed the insides of the Celadon Department Store with a black hole, and the Pokémon world went into panic. Cynthia went to Sabrina for "help," and then Cynthia blackmailed Giselle, accusing her of causing the attacks in Sinnoh. She was forced to kill a dozen security guards in a black hole, her second direct killings in her life. Cynthia succeeded in taking her position as champion, and later Lucian crowned her queen. Everything had succeeded, until she got her chance to torture and kill Sabrina.

Cynthia did get to torture Sabrina, but Will rescued Sabrina right as Cynthia was about to kill her, and Cynthia lost a small amount of powers, that she later regained. However, after this occurred, Sabrina stayed out of the big fight led by Cynthia's former pupil Karen, and thus Cynthia missed out on a second chance to kill her most hated rival. Cynthia ended up killing a dozen police officers as part of this big battle, her third direct killings in her life. Cynthia ended up being brought down by Erika's grass powers, and locked away in jail for nine months. Shortly after being put in jail, she discovered she was pregnant.

(March 3, 2009)

Cynthia gave birth to her son Roy, then escaped from jail with Lucian thanks to help from Byron and Roark. Her reign as queen of Sinnoh had begun.

(Today - March 12, 2009)

Cynthia continued sitting on her throne, and after thinking about the past, she could not get over it - she hated Sabrina with every fiber of her body. So what if she was a murderer, she thought; so was Sabrina. And Sabrina would pay for killing her parents three years ago. Cynthia would take the ultimate form of revenge on her archrival, no matter what powers Sabrina had gained.

_All the killings I've been forced to commit, they've just been part of my drive for justice,_ Cynthia reasoned in her mind. _I know I've killed 27 people directly, plus 100+ indirectly, it affects my conscience. But it's all been in the quest to see Sabrina be brought to justice for her crimes. And she will, no matter what._


	6. Don't Fear the Reaper

Chapter 6

Don't Fear the Reaper

The following day, Cynthia put back in motion her plan to attack Kanto. She sent all of the gym leaders to Cerulean City, with Byron to keep a close eye on Candice and Fantina to make sure they would not turn on their own again. She left Roy with Lucian and teleported to Pewter City, where she had her own business to take care of.

When the Sinnoh trainers arrived at Cerulean City via Flying Pokémon, they were immediately spotted by police. However, the police could not do anything to stop them, as they attacked with a barrage of Pokémon, overpowering Officer Jenny's troops in no time. Then they went to work on attacking houses around the city. Notably, Candice and Fantina held back from using their Pokémon, but were ignored by Byron as he aggressively used his Steel Pokémon to attack the city.

Meanwhile, Cynthia immediately went to the Pewter Museum upon her arrival in Pewter City. There she took a look at the ancient Pokémon fossils that they had. She walked by a model of a space shuttle and was interrupted by a man who had no idea who she was.

"Excuse me, but are you looking for something in particular?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if I could have your Pokémon fossils," Cynthia replied innocently.

"Have them? Why, they belong to the museum!" the man replied.

"Perhaps I could convince you to give them to me," Cynthia responded.

"Never!" the man said.

Cynthia gave the man a sweet smile. "Come with me," she told him.

She led him outside, then told him to watch. She then extended her arm and swept it from right to left. As she did, everything in the entire town was reduced to rubble, at the mere extension of her arm.

"How - how is that possible? Who- who are you?" the man asked.

"I am Queen Cynthia of Sinnoh," Cynthia replied. "Now I request those Pokémon fossils immediately."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia!" the man exclaimed, hurrying up to grab the fossils.

* * *

Things were not going as smoothly for the Sinnoh trainers. Upon reaching the Cerulean gym they were stopped by Misty, who used a large number of water Pokémon to slow them down.

"That's okay," Wake said. "You can do all you want, but we're eventually going to win."

Candice then signaled to Fantina to make their move. They jumped to Misty's side and released their Pokémon, beginning to fight against the other Sinnoh gym leaders. Quickly they knocked out all of the Sinnoh leaders' Pokémon.

"What is wrong with you?" Roark yelled, as he watched his Pokémon get defeated. "Don't you fear Queen Cynthia?"

"Her ways are wrong!" Candice replied. "Destroying the land of Kanto is not the right thing to do!"

"No, but it's the smart thing to do," a voice said.

Candice looked over and saw Cynthia, who had teleported over to Cerulean City. She was holding a collection of Pokémon fossils in her arms.

"I see you failed me again, all of you," Cynthia declared. "What use do I have for any of you?"

She reached out her hand, and instantly Candice and Fantina fell to the ground violently.

"Byron, I thought I told you to keep watch on them," Cynthia said.

"I'm sorry, Queen Cynthia, they got away," Byron replied.

"Take them with you back to Sinnoh, and bring them to me, where I will punish them," Cynthia stated.

As Byron picked up Candice and Fantina, Misty tried helping them with her Pokémon, but Cynthia merely pointed at the Pokémon and knocked them out. She then disappeared, leaving the Sinnoh trainers to gather their fallen Pokémon and fly back.

* * *

"Why did you disobey me again?" Cynthia screamed at Candice and Fantina, who cowered before her in fear.

"We're sorry, Queen Cynthia…"

"No, you're not! I know you're just lying," Cynthia replied. "Perhaps you would like to know what happens to those who disobey me."

She threw Candice to the ground psychically, then sent her Lucario over to her. Lucario began slashing Candice's back violently, causing the girl to scream in agony.

"You're next, Fantina!" Cynthia yelled.

"No, no, I change… I help you now," Fantina protested.

Cynthia looked at Fantina closely.

"I can sense that you are telling the truth," Cynthia responded. "As for Candice, you can go ahead and kill her, Lucario."

"No!"

Lucario began bashing Candice's head against the ground, opening up several gashes. Blood covered her body as she screamed in pain. Finally she passed out, and Lucario gave her a kick as he walked away.

Fantina saw her fallen friend and begged Cynthia to allow her to take her to the hospital. Cynthia obliged, knowing that in Candice's final moments of consciousness, she began to wish that she had obeyed Cynthia all along. Fantina then picked up Candice and rushed her to the nearest hospital.

* * *

Sabrina was training herself, using her newfound dark powers. Will held Roxette while watching her, feeling scared the whole time she used her powers.

"Don't be afraid," Sabrina said. "I won't use these on you."

"Are you sure?" Will replied.

"Am I sure? What are you talking about?" Sabrina asked. "Of course I'm sure!"

"Well, I was just worried that if they were to get out of control…"

"Will, I'd rather be sucked into my own black hole than to kill you or Roxette by mistake. I'll be very careful," Sabrina said.

She kissed him on the cheek, then continued her training. Slowly she was getting the hang of using her powers.

* * *

Karen saw the attacks on Cerulean and Pewter City as a perfect opportunity. Now she figured it was her best chance to get support for Team Rocket. Her propaganda campaign would start with a television broadcast.

"Good evening," the news anchor said. "Tonight we have with us the former Elite Karen, who wants to talk to you about her new team. What is it called?"

"It's the same as an old team in name, only different in purpose," Karen explained. "We're Team ROCKET - as in Riot Or Cynthia Kills Every Trainer. Basically, if we don't riot against Cynthia now, she will kill us all - and not just those in Kanto but those in Johto, Hoenn and eventually Sinnoh as well."

"So you want everyone to join your Team Rocket against her?" the anchor asked.

"That's right," Karen said. "Visit me here in Goldenrod City or my colleagues Bruno and Clair in Blackthorn City to sign up. We are going to form an all-out military effort against Cynthia, and we will defeat her and take her out of power. Team Rocket will have its name known as the team that brought down the most villainous woman of our era."

"We understand that Cynthia and Sinnoh attacked both Pewter and Cerulean City today," the news anchor stated.

"And she'll attack your hometown next!" Karen exclaimed. "Don't wait - join Team Rocket before it's too late! We must take down Cynthia, and we must do it soon!"

* * *

Jasmine and Silver were watching this report on their television.

"Not again," Silver complained.

"Silver, I'm scared," Jasmine said.

"Don't be worried," Silver replied. "You know that Karen tried getting us into doing that last time, and look what happened."

"But Silver - we can't just sit back and allow Cynthia to destroy everyone and everything in her path," Jasmine stated. "We have to do something."

Silver groaned. "Why do you always get me into these things?" he asked. "I wonder what Gold thinks about this."

* * *

"No, no, no!" Gold exclaimed.

"That's what I thought too," Silver replied.

"We almost got killed the first time," Gold continued.

"The one thing that concerns me… if we don't do anything, will we end up seeing our towns get destroyed too?" Silver asked.

"Why would she go after Johto?" Gold questioned.

"I don't know, but it could be just like the thing Team Rocket did once before… remember how they went after all of our hometowns," Silver stated.

"I guess you're right," Gold said. "Maybe if there are enough people that join us this time, we'll be able to defeat Cynthia without getting blown away like last time."

"Then let's meet Karen in Goldenrod City, because here we go again," Silver stated.

* * *

Fantina was taking care of Candice in the hospital the next day. Candice woke up, with gashes and scars all over her body. Her innocent looks had been ruined - she now looked like a mess.

"_Elle a du mal_," Fantina said.

Candice sighed. "I'll get better," she replied. "It was worth it."

"_Non!_" Fantina exclaimed. _"Pas du tout!"_

"My scars will heal," Candice replied. "I'm just going to have to resign as a gym leader… I can't do what Queen Cynthia wants me to do."

"Maybe we move… move to Kanto," Fantina suggested.

"This is my home, I can't move," Candice said. "But I can't continue to follow Cynthia's orders…"

She sighed, not knowing what to do. If only someone would rescue her…

* * *

Lorelei and Lance watched the television reports, and wondered what exactly Karen had up her sleeve, with the creation of yet another Team Rocket.

"Why? What does she think she can do?" Lorelei asked.

"It beats me," Lance said. "Besides, I couldn't convince those trainers to help me before, why would they suddenly run to her now?"

"This all makes so little sense," Lorelei commented.

"But if Cynthia keeps on attacking us, we'll need our heroine Giselle to rescue us again… as if that's what we really want," Lance sighed.

* * *

Cynthia and Lucian lay in bed, enjoying another romantic moment together.

"Oh, Lucian… remember when we first met?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes, Princess," Lucian replied, as Cynthia laughed in return.

"And now, we're finally going to get married," Cynthia responded.

"Of course, my queen," Lucian said. "We have it all now."

Cynthia paused. "All but one thing… we don't have Sabrina dead," she said. "I want her dead before we get married."

"Why wait any longer?" Lucian asked. "You've waited for the perfect opportunity… but I feel there's no more time to waste. Just kill her and get it over with."

"Oh, Lucian, you don't understand," Cynthia stated. "I've really wanted to make her pay. Simply sucking her off the face of the earth would not be enough… she's caused me so much pain, I want her to suffer every bit of it before she dies. I want her to beg me for mercy as I kill her… I want her to express every bit of remorse, while I absolutely refuse her forgiveness."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she isn't that powerful," Lucian replied. "You'll be able to. Just go ahead and kill her tomorrow. You know how much I want to have that ceremony."

"So do I," Cynthia replied. "But wait - she has a daughter now, doesn't she?"

"Why does it matter?" Lucian asked. "You wouldn't show mercy on her daughter, would you?"

"No, but if I killed her husband too… we could take her daughter as our own," Cynthia replied. "The girl would never know."

"It sounds beautiful… but why not let me do the honors with Will?" Lucian asked. "I'd gladly take him out for you."

"Perfect," Cynthia responded. "Tomorrow, Sabrina and her husband die, and leave their daughter to us. As I lost my real parents, so will she."

She laughed, then went into a long, passionate kiss with Lucian.


	7. Beware the Ides of March

Chapter 7

Beware the Ides of March

The following day, March 15, Cynthia's sister came to visit her. She, a 14-year-old girl by the name of Diane, was excited to see her new nephew.

"Queen Sister!" Diane exclaimed upon seeing Cynthia sitting on her throne. "It is such a thrill to see you!"

"Little sister," Cynthia replied, "I'm so glad to see you too. You know, it's been almost three years now…"

"Since they died," Diane said. "You know what, Queen Sister? I believe you now."

Cynthia smiled. "I always knew you would," she replied. "The only other one to believe me is Lucian… it's only the ones I trust the most who believe my story."

"Queen Sister, you should punish that woman!" Diane exclaimed. "You have the powers, I know you do!"

"I promise you, I will punish her, today in fact," Cynthia replied. "There is no reason for you to be concerned, I have grown much more powerful than her, and I will finally end her life today."

"It's only fair," Diane said. "Now where's Roy?"

"Lucian has him," Cynthia responded.

Cynthia directed her sister towards Lucian's room, and off her sister went to see her new nephew. Cynthia then smiled innocently.

_What harm you've caused this family, Sabrina,_ she thought. _But today, you die.

* * *

_

Sabrina had given her daughter Roxette to her parents to watch for the day. She planned on training at home with Will, who was increasingly nervous at Sabrina's new powers.

"Oh, come on, Will, it's not that scary," Sabrina stated. "Dark powers aren't that much different from psychic powers."

Will looked astounded. "Says the person who hated dark powers up until just the other day!" he exclaimed. "You said that anyone with dark powers is inherently evil! You said that dark attacks are the most dangerous power in this world! You said-"

"I know I said a lot, but that was before I realized that I need them," Sabrina replied. "I need them if I'm ever going to defeat Cynthia."

"You don't need to defeat her!" Will shouted. "You just need to avoid her!"

"So… you think that Cynthia coming here to Saffron City the other day was just by chance?" Sabrina asked.

"No, but now with these powers you'll never have to face her again! She won't be able to do to you what she did then!" Will exclaimed.

"Will, it's time," Sabrina responded.

"Time for what?" Will asked nervously.

"You know," Sabrina said.

Will was able to read Sabrina's mind and realize exactly what she was thinking about.

"Oh no," he stated.

"Oh yes," Sabrina replied. "Cynthia has no idea what powers I have now, she's not that powerful of a psychic. All I do now is go after her now, while she is unaware, and defeat her once and for all."

Will began shaking his head nervously. "That's a bad move," he said. "Don't expect me to go along with it."

"You're coming," Sabrina added, grabbing his arm. "You're going to watch the fall of a monarch."

* * *

Cynthia continued sitting on her throne, just enjoying the fact that she was a queen, and respected as such. She adjusted her crown as she thought about how foolish her opponents were. Sabrina, her archenemy, was just about to teleport to Sinnoh and allow Cynthia to have the honor of killing her in her own castle. There was no need for Cynthia to go after Sabrina this time; she foresaw that Sabrina was going to step right into her trap. And she knew the exact moment Sabrina would teleport in front of her.

_Lucian,_ Cynthia called telepathically.

_Yes, my queen,_ Lucian replied.

_It is time,_ Cynthia said.

Lucian knew exactly what that meant, so he gave Roy to Diane to hold, while he teleported to her side. Within moments the two of them saw Will and Sabrina teleport in front of them.

"Welcome, Sabrina," Cynthia said kindly.

_Sabrina, this is bad,_ Will stated. _They knew we were coming._

_ It's okay, _Sabrina replied. _I can handle this._

"No, you can't," Cynthia said, much to Sabrina's surprise. "I know of your new powers, Sabrina. I do not fear them at all."

"You'll see!" Sabrina shouted, as she launched a ball of dark energy towards Cynthia.

Cynthia merely reached out and blocked the energy with her own ball of dark energy. "It will be nice to at least have a battle," she said. "Before, it was a little embarrassing on your part."

"Sabrina, don't do this!" Will yelled.

"Lucian, please take care of him," Cynthia stated.

Lucian walked up to Will and grabbed him, then the two teleported into a different room. Cynthia, meanwhile, continued to battle Sabrina, who launched a second ball of dark energy, this time holding it out in front of her.

"I'm stronger than I was before!" Sabrina exclaimed. "I won't fall so easily."

"We'll see about that," Cynthia replied, as the two pushed their dark energy against each other.

It was clear that Cynthia was obviously more powerful than Sabrina, but Cynthia seemed to be holding back for some reason. Clearly she felt like allowing the battle to go on longer.

"By the way, Sabrina, your husband… his last name is the same as your parents," Cynthia commented.

"Yes, he took my last name," Sabrina replied.

"Isn't that a coincidence?" Cynthia remarked. "Because Lucian was going to do the same… he's going to take my last name, Celestic."

She then smiled warmly.

"That should ring a bell."

Sabrina ignored Cynthia, continuing to focus all her strength into keeping her dark energy blasting against Cynthia's.

"That name means something to you, doesn't it?" Cynthia asked, continuing to egg Sabrina on.

"It's the name of the town in which you were born," Sabrina replied. "The town where you lived for most of your life."

"That's right," Cynthia stated. "And obviously… it was the name of my parents."

_Was?_ Sabrina thought. _Does she mean her parents are dead?_

"Sabrina, what's the matter? Feeling a little guilty?" Cynthia questioned.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sabrina replied.

"Mewtwo?" Cynthia asked.

_Mewtwo?_ Sabrina thought. _How does she know about-_

Suddenly it all came back to Sabrina. She remembered attacking her own parents with Mewtwo… and then she realized that had not been the only time she had attacked someone's parents with Mewtwo. Images flashed through her mind, and she could see Cynthia's parents being attacked by Mewtwo, then dying, and then lying dead on the floor. She could see images of Mewtwo moving things around the room, carefully manipulating the scene to make it look like an accident. Then she could see herself reporting back to Giovanni, that she had completed the job.

As she remembered these things, she lost control of her dark energy, and Cynthia's dark energy ball crushed her. She fell to the ground in pain, but feeling more mentally anguished than physically.

"I- I- I killed… I killed your parents," Sabrina cried from the floor.

For once, Cynthia frowned. "Yes, you did," she replied.

"I- I'm sorry..." Sabrina cried. "I lost control…"

"What do you mean, you lost control?" Cynthia asked angrily, showing her true emotions for a change. "You're such a powerful psychic, I don't believe for one second you could have allowed that Pokémon to control your mind!"

"Our minds were linked," Sabrina said softly. "But the true me… I lost control…"

"I don't believe you at all!" Cynthia shouted. "And I'm a more powerful psychic than you!"

"I know you are…" Sabrina cried, "Queen Cynthia… but I promise you… I never knew I killed your parents until now."

"You're such a liar!" Cynthia screamed. "You expect me to believe you? You've gained these dark powers of yours, so you're blocking me from reading your true feelings! If I could fully read your feelings right now, I would know exactly how much you're lying right now!"

Sabrina began crying hysterically. The dark powers which she had gained - the powers which she thought would enable her to defeat Cynthia - were the very things that were stopping Cynthia from believing her story.

"Trust me, Queen Cynthia!" Sabrina cried. "Believe me! I would never kill your parents if I had control of my own mind!"

"You think you're something for calling me queen," Cynthia said. "That won't matter, because all in this land will call me queen! You are a murderer, you drove me to killing others, just so I could get my revenge on you!"

Sabrina continued crying. She felt the guilt for Cynthia's murders as well - it had been her killing of Cynthia's parents that caused Cynthia to feel the need to start killing people, in order to gain her position now that she would have the chance to take revenge.

"I'm sorry, Queen Cynthia," Sabrina cried. "What can I ever do to make up to you?"

"Nothing!" Cynthia screamed. "You can't ever bring back my parents! You and your husband shall die to make up for their deaths!"

"No, Queen Cynthia!" Sabrina yelled. "Please! I have a daughter, she can't grow up without parents!"

"My little sister has!" Cynthia shouted. "She has been forced to live as an orphan thanks to your murders!"

"Please… please, Queen Cynthia… please have mercy…" Sabrina cried. "I'll do anything you want… please just allow me to live… for my daughter's sake."

"Your daughter can live with me!" Cynthia yelled. "She can have new parents!"

Cynthia then reached for an Ultra Ball. She threw it, sending out her Lucario.

"Lucario, I want you to punish her before she dies!" Cynthia called. "Slash her!"

Lucario threw Sabrina over on to her stomach, then cut his sharp claws into her back in an X, completely slashing apart her back. Sabrina screamed out in immense agony as blood flew through the air.

"Now… slash her throat and end her life," Cynthia demanded.

Lucario moved his claw to Sabrina's neck and began to cut into it. He was just about to kill her when he found himself being held back by a Jynx.

"You let her go!" Will screamed, as he had teleported back from fighting Lucian.

"Lucian, I'm disappointed," Cynthia stated. "Why didn't you kill him?"

"I'm sorry, my queen," Lucian apologized. "My Pokémon defeated most of his… all but that dreadful Jynx."

Jynx began fighting off Lucario, then kissed the Fighting/Steel Pokémon. Lucario immediately fell asleep, and Jynx picked up the bloody mess that was Sabrina's body.

Will looked up to Cynthia with tears in his eyes. "How could you do this to her?" he cried. "You're a murderer!"

"So is your wife," Cynthia replied. She was about to attack him with a ball of dark energy when he grabbed Jynx and Sabrina and teleported away.

Suddenly Diane came running into the room holding Roy. "Queen Sister, Queen Sister!" she called. "Did you kill that woman yet?"

"She's not dead yet, but her wounds are so severe that she will die," Cynthia replied. "I made her suffer badly."

"She deserves it," Diane replied. "What an awful person she must be."

Cynthia paused, thinking about how Sabrina's dark powers stopped her from fully reading Sabrina's mind. There was no doubt to her… Sabrina clearly was lying.

"Not only is she a murderer, but a liar," Cynthia added. "She denies ever knowing about what she did."

Diane gasped, while Lucian gave an evil-looking smile.

"I can't believe it!" Diane exclaimed. "How could she possibly deny killing our parents?"

"It's because she's inherently evil," Lucian explained. "There are some people in this world with no morals… they kill and feel no regrets. She is one of those people. She must just be a pathological liar who feels no need for right and wrong. She killed your parents without batting an eye, and now she wants to hide her sins. I've read many books about fictional characters like her, but now we see a real-life version."

"Mark my words, even if she survives those wounds, I will kill her," Cynthia stated. "Next time, she won't be so lucky to be tortured first… she will die immediately."

"Thank you, Queen Sister," Diane said.

Diane then gave Roy to Lucian, while Cynthia consoled her crying little sister. Not even extreme punishment of her parents' murderer would satisfy Diane; only the knowing that the murderer was dead would be enough to console her.


	8. The Scarlet Letter

Chapter 8

The Scarlet Letter

Fantina brought Volkner to the hospital to visit Candice. Volkner had been very concerned about Candice ever since her most recent rebellion against Cynthia. He then found out from Fantina that she had been very badly injured by Cynthia, nearly killed. Now he would have his chance to see her in person.

But when Volkner walked up to Candice's hospital bed, she quickly covered her face, trying to hide her scars from him.

"It's okay," Volkner told her. "You look as cute as ever."

A slight blush went across Candice's face. "You really think… I mean, what are you doing here?" she snapped.

"I've come to check on you," Volkner replied. "What Queen Cynthia did to you was awful."

"I don't know what to do anymore," Candice said. "I refuse to obey her orders, but she'll kill me if I keep disobeying her."

"I've decided to rail against her as well," Volkner responded. "The three of us will simply not go to the gym leader meetings anymore. Queen Cynthia will be forced to come to our towns and find us if she wants us anymore."

"Thank you," Candice stated.

"And…" Volkner added. "I'll visit you often."

Another blush went across Candice's face, but she tried hiding it from Volkner again. Volkner simply smiled.

"You rest here and get better," he told her. "Until then I'll make sure Queen Cynthia does no more harm to you."

* * *

Sabrina lay on her stomach in the hospital, where the doctors frantically worked to fix her back. She was still alive, yet in very poor condition, although the bleeding had finally stopped. Will came in to see her.

"How are you?" he asked.

"In pain… but still alive," she replied.

"You have to promise me something," Will stated sternly. "You have to promise that as long as you live, you will never, ever try to fight Cynthia again."

"I promise," Sabrina responded. "I won't try that ever again."

"That Cynthia is an awful person," Will continued. "She's a murderer, that's what she is! And to think she would accuse you of being the same… what is wrong with her? I hope to never see her again!"

Sabrina frowned when she heard Will say this. _Will,_ she told him telepathically. _I have a secret._

_What's that?_ Will replied.

_Cynthia's parents… _Sabrina said. _I… I killed them._

Will did a double-take, in utter disbelief. "What?" he screamed aloud.

The doctors all looked at him in confusion, wondering what he was responding to.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something," Will said.

_Sabrina, come on,_ he said telepathically. _Is this something she brainwashed you into thinking?_

_Will, remember my time with Team Rocket?_ Sabrina asked.

_No, that was before I met you,_ Will replied.

Sabrina gave Will an angry look. _I've told you enough times about it,_ she stated. _You know I had my mind controlled by Mewtwo for a while._

_What are you trying to say?_ Will asked.

_While I had no control over my own actions, I used Mewtwo to kill Cynthia's parents,_ Sabrina replied. _Then it was erased from my memory… until Cynthia brought it up._

_That has to be a lie,_ Will said. _I don't believe you._

_It's true, Will,_ Sabrina responded. _I, your wife, am a murderer._

Will glared at Sabrina. He quickly walked out of the room, not wanting to hear her anymore. Enough was enough, he figured.

_I don't know what that Cynthia did to her, but she ingrained some sort of lie in her head somehow that she now believes,_ Will thought.

* * *

Cynthia lay with Lucian in bed, enjoying another romantic moment together. Lucian stroked his hand through her long blonde hair while kissing her shoulders.

"I'm so glad your sister came, so she could watch Roy," Lucian commented.

Cynthia smiled back at Lucian. Clearly all the two cared about was enjoying their time together.

"I will not be satisfied until Sabrina is dead," Cynthia remarked. "Once she dies, we will get married."

"Oh, Queen Cynthia, let us not wait any longer," Lucian replied. "I want to marry you as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, she shall die very soon," Cynthia stated. "And once she is dead, we shall enjoy our wedding together."

She then began kissing Lucian on the lips. Not even she, the most powerful psychic in the Pokémon world, could predict what problems were ahead.

* * *

Karen began to deal with the long line of trainers who came to enlist for her newest Team Rocket. They were in Goldenrod City, where even the gym leader was joining the fray.

"Whitney, I'm glad to see you and your boyfriend have come to join us," Karen remarked.

"We have no choice," Whitney responded. "If we don't do something, this Cynthia will destroy all our towns."

"You already saw what she did to Pewter City," Karen commented. "Ah, and look who it is."

"Shut up!" Silver snapped. "I'm not officially joining Team Rocket, I'm only helping you out!"

"My, my, aren't you a little too anxious?" Karen replied. "Come on, now, I could use a trainer like you to be one of the executives of Team Rocket."

"Never!" Silver shouted. "Come on, Jasmine, let's go!"

"Oh, all right, just help us out, will you?" Karen asked.

"What are we supposed to do?" Silver questioned.

"The goal is to turn everyone against Cynthia," Karen replied. "You tell everyone you know that she's evil, and that Karen is the leader of the Team Rocket that will rescue the lands of Kanto and Johto. Then eventually, when I think the time is right, I will lead an army of trainers into Sinnoh, and we'll take out that 'queen' for good."

"Sounds easy enough," Silver said. "We don't have to battle more than just that one time."

"_Just_ that one time will be the hardest battle of your life, though," Karen responded. "You'd better make sure your Pokémon are ready."

"Don't worry about that," Silver stated. "My Pokémon are always ready."

Karen then began talking to the next person in line. She had already recruited about 20 members, and dozens more were to come. All of them were told how she was in charge of the Team Rocket that would rescue Kanto and Johto. And slowly, she began to gain support, perhaps even more support than Cynthia had in Sinnoh.

* * *

Will came back into Sabrina's room, still looking quite angry.

_Are you going to tell me the truth now?_ he asked her.

_I did tell you the truth, _she replied. _I really did kill Cynthia's parents, even though I had no control over my mind when I did._

_ I'll never believe that, Sabrina,_ Will said. _I'll never believe that you could do something like that, even when being controlled._

_ Will! If Cynthia could control me, don't you think she'd have me do awful things? _Sabrina asked.

_I guess…_ Will replied.

_And don't you think that Mewtwo, when he overpowered me, could do the same?_ Sabrina asked. _I nearly killed my own parents because of that Pokémon… not until I gained control over him was he able to be used for good._

_But Sabrina…_ Will replied, with tears forming in his eyes, _does this mean… you… you will be punished?_

_I can't live with the guilt,_ Sabrina said. _I must turn myself in._

_No!_ Will exclaimed. _Nobody needs to know!_

_Will, I'm a murderer,_ Sabrina replied.

_You aren't - Mewtwo was!_ Will responded.

_Will, what could I ever do to repay Cynthia?_ Sabrina asked. _She ought to kill me._

_ Don't talk like that!_ Will reprimanded her. _You're everything to me, Sabrina. She's the real murderer. She has control over her mind, yet she kills. You did not have control… it's not your fault._

He leaned over and kissed her, while she gave no response.

_I love you,_ he said. _I'm not going to let you take the punishment for something an out-of-control Pokémon did.

* * *

_

Cyrus was meeting with his commanders Mars, Jupiter and Saturn near the Sinnoh League headquarters.

"Palkia may be in another dimension, but I still have this orb," he told them. "This one can be used to awaken Dialga. And once we do…"

"We'll send this world back in time and rule over it together," Mars replied.

"The five of us will live in the new perfect world," Cyrus stated. "It all starts… tomorrow."

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn looked at each other in confusion. Surely Cyrus had not forgotten how to count?

"You mean four," Jupiter corrected Cyrus.

"Did I say five? I'm sorry, I must have had my mind on something else," Cyrus replied.

"On what?" Saturn asked. "Don't tell us you have another commander somewhere else who's going to join us."

"No, not at all," Cyrus responded. "Trust me, I just was daydreaming. Now start on your way to Mt. Coronet, I'll be joining you soon enough."

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn left Cyrus, grumbling amongst themselves.

"Surely he doesn't mean Old Man Pluto," Mars commented.

Jupiter slapped her hand on her head. "That must be it, Old Man Pluto must be the one he's going to have join us," she remarked. "Why didn't I figure that out before?"

"I guess we'll survive with him around," Saturn said. "All Cyrus needs to do is stay away from our not-so-beloved queen, and all systems are go for the Adamant Orb to awaken Dialga and set our new world in motion."

* * *

Cyrus, meanwhile, was on his way to the Sinnoh League headquarters. He held the Adamant Orb with him, having obtained it after bribing a guard who had sealed the hidden passage to it in Mt. Coronet. It took a large sum of money to do so, but he had obtained the necessary amount from Cynthia.

But there was one bit of unfinished business for him. Before he would attempt to create his new world, he had to do one final thing. Only then would he be satisfied.

* * *

Lorelei and Lance became a bit disturbed hearing reports about all the people joining Team Rocket.

"Isn't that name supposed to represent evil?" Lorelei asked. "And is it your cousin running that thing?"

"She's only part of it," Lance replied. "Look, if Team Rocket can prevent stuff like the Pewter City disaster from happening, we need to throw our support to them."

"But then what?" Lorelei questioned. "Karen becomes the big boss, and she takes Cynthia's place. We have the same problem over again."

"Karen isn't like Cynthia," Lance argued.

"Are you sure?" Lorelei asked. "I'm not too certain she isn't just another version of her."

"Relax, Lorelei," Lance said, kissing her. "Everything's going to be okay. As long as we have Giselle on our side, I know we can't lose."

"Why is that?" Lorelei questioned.

Lance gave Lorelei an annoyed look. "Because I want her to lose so badly, and I want her to finally shut up, but I just know that won't happen," he said.

Lorelei smiled. "At least you still have your sense of humor," she replied. "Just stay true to yourself."

* * *

Sabrina's back was finally sown up, but it was plain and clear that the damage was done. Across her back were two giant scars, forming an X. Lucario had marked Sabrina permanently with his claws, and now she would have to live with these scars. Her once-spotless body now had giant flaws, flaws which she thought may stop Will from thinking the same way about her.

Even as she thought these things, however, Will felt even more compassionate for her, wishing so badly that she would stop blaming herself for what Mewtwo had caused her to do. He sat by her side, crying, wishing that it was him and not her who was forced to go through such physical and mental anguish. And most of all, he wished that Cynthia would never show her face to either of them again, though this was one wish he knew would not come true.


	9. Luck of the Cyrus

Chapter 9

Luck of the Cyrus

The following day, March 17, Cyrus walked into the Sinnoh League headquarters. He quickly found his way to Cynthia's throne room, where the Sinnoh queen was soaking in every moment of her royalty by herself.

"Queen Cynthia," Cyrus said.

"Cyrus," Cynthia replied. "So, you escaped from prison."

Cyrus disappeared for a moment before reappearing. "I can teleport now," he stated. "I have awakened my psychic powers. Thus I escaped from prison using my teleportation, as they never expected me to be able to teleport away."

"I guess that makes you more useful," Cynthia responded. "You and your Team Galactic will be necessary to me in the near future."

Cyrus stared coldly at Cynthia. "Queen Cynthia, I must thank you," he told her. "For with your funding I have finally been able to obtain the item of which I desired so greatly - the Adamant Orb."

He held the orb out in front of Cynthia, causing her eyes to grow a little wider in surprise.

"Now, I am off to create a new world," Cyrus stated. "With this Adamant Orb I will awaken Dialga and destroy this world and replace it with a new one, only to be inhabited by those who I choose. And it's all thanks to you, Queen Cynthia."

He then teleported out of her sight. Cynthia looked a bit angry, while still sitting on her throne.

_Cyrus, always so confident,_ Cynthia thought. _We'll see about that._

She then focused his mind on his, and she teleported off to where he had gone.

* * *

Cynthia appeared at the Spear Pillar on Mt. Coronet, where Cyrus was waiting with his commanders. The commanders all were worried when they saw Cynthia appear, so they scurried back inside the mountain, but Cyrus merely smiled.

"I knew you'd follow me here," Cyrus commented.

"Cyrus, I never gave you permission to use that orb," Cynthia said. "As queen of Sinnoh, I demand that you turn that orb over to me immediately."

Cyrus's smile grew larger. "My queen, don't you realize that I'm only trying to fulfill your wishes?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Cynthia snapped.

"You've always wanted unlimited power, haven't you?" Cyrus questioned. "To be queen over everyone?"

"I _am_ queen over all of Sinnoh," Cynthia corrected Cyrus.

"Not over the whole world, however," Cyrus said. "But I can make that dream a reality."

He held out the Adamant Orb in front of him.

"Together, with Dialga's help, I will create a new world, a world in which you will be the queen," Cyrus stated. "We'll start over, ridding ourselves of all the filth that this current world has. Your enemies, Cynthia, will no longer exist. Then it will be just the five of us, with you ruling over all of us."

Cynthia looked curiously at Cyrus. As much as she wanted to disagree with him, she was incredibly attracted by the idea.

"I'm sorry, Cyrus," she said, "but-"

"But this is what you want, deep inside," Cyrus replied. "You want to be queen over everyone, and this is your big chance."

"Not without Lucian!" Cynthia snapped.

"_Only_ without Lucian," Cyrus responded.

He then walked closer to Cynthia.

"Queen Cynthia, this has always been my dream," he explained. "All these years, through all this research, I have planned and studied day and night to come to this point, where I would have the opportunity to start a brand new world. But it won't be complete without you."

Cynthia looked stunned.

"I love you, my gothic queen," Cyrus said. "I want you to be with me forever."

He moved closer to her, while she remained completely still. Then he kissed her on the lips. She initially refused his advances, but as the kiss went on, she joined in the kiss, enjoying every second of it.

"Queen Cynthia…"

Cynthia immediately broke away from the kiss, looking behind her to see Lucian, who had just teleported there. He had been concerned about her absence, so he focused his mind on hers and teleported here to Spear Pillar. Now he saw his fiancé kissing another man.

"No… no…" Lucian mumbled, falling to the ground. "My queen, what have I done to you? I gave you everything… everything! I've never betrayed you in any way, I've offered you all I could give. Is this why you put off our wedding? Oh, I don't understand. Why, my queen, why?"

Cynthia shoved Cyrus and rushed over to Lucian, who had begun to cry.

"My Lucian… please understand… it's not what you think…" Cynthia tried to explain.

Lucian simply kept his face in his hands, ignoring Cynthia. She then turned around to Cyrus.

"Look what you caused!" she cried. "Anyone who causes hurt to Lucian deserves to be punished!"

Cyrus smiled. "Then perhaps you should be punished," he replied.

Cynthia then held out her hands, creating a ball of dark energy.

"You really don't want to kill me, do you?" Cyrus asked. "After all, I think you love me."

Cynthia shot the dark energy towards Cyrus, who deflected it using his own dark energy.

"I am powerful myself, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus said. "You won't be able to defeat me that easily. Now, please, get rid of that crier so we can begin the process."

Cynthia shot another ball of dark energy towards Cyrus, who managed to deflect this one as well. "Queen Cynthia, I thought you loved me," he stated. "Isn't that why you enjoyed that kiss so much?"

"I love my Lucian," Cynthia replied. "_Not_ you."

"You can't change what you did," Cyrus said. "I think you're torn between the two of us."

He then teleported past Cynthia over to Lucian.

"If you're not going to get rid of him, then I will," Cyrus stated. "After all, we can't have the both of us in our new world."

Luican looked up to Cyrus with fear, as Cyrus was about to create a black hole. That was when Cynthia teleported over to Cyrus and instantly put him into a ball of dark energy.

"Perhaps I shouldn't be so merciful from now on," Cynthia said. "I would never let you touch my Lucian."

Lucian stood up next to Cynthia, who kissed him on the cheek. Cynthia then released Cyrus from the ball of dark energy, but as she did, she grabbed the Adamant Orb off the Team Galactic leader.

"I'll be taking this," she stated.

"No!" Cyrus protested. "That's everything I've worked for!"

"Relax, I won't destroy it," Cynthia replied. "But I'm going to make you earn it back. For starters, you and your Team Galactic are going to help me ruin Kanto. Once that is complete, then you will get your orb back."

"Please, I'll do anything for that orb," Cyrus begged. "If destroying Kanto is what you want, then that is what you'll get."

Cynthia then took Lucian aside. "Trust me, I will make up for this," she told him.

* * *

That night, as the two Sinnoh lovers lay in bed together, Lucian was notably depressed. Cynthia read his mind, noticing how awful he felt.

"Lucian, I'm sorry," she told him. "Even a queen makes mistakes from time to time… I got carried away."

"Queen Cynthia, do you really have feelings for Cyrus?" Lucian asked. "If you do, please let me know now. I could call off the wedding…"

"No, Lucian!" Cynthia replied. "Cyrus just trapped me… I couldn't help it…"

"You seemed to enjoy that kiss," Lucian stated.

"I'm sorry, it was the thought of all that power that got to me," Cynthia responded. "I just began to imagine what it would be like to live with such unlimited power."

"But don't you have that already?" Lucian asked. "Don't you have such great power?"

"Lucian, not everyone respects me as queen, in fact not even all of the gym leaders of this land respect me," Cynthia replied. "I've done all I could to attempt to gain their respect, by trying to bring Sinnoh to power, but it's no good. I would love to start a brand new world."

"You mean, you share Cyrus's views?" Lucian questioned.

Cynthia sighed. "Lucian, it's not like that…"

"I think it is like that!" Lucian protested. "I think that deep down inside you wish you were with Cyrus, and you'd rather be with him than be with me."

"Lucian, why else would I protect you?" Cynthia asked. "You're the only one for me."

"Are you sure?" Lucian asked. "I wonder what goes on when I'm not around."

"Lucian, that was the only time I saw him in a long time," Cynthia protested.

"Queen Cynthia, I've given you everything," Lucian said. "I've been the one who's pushed for you to have it all. If it were not for me, you'd still just be the champion, not the queen. I've been the one who's pushed for more and more for you. I feel like I deserve something in return."

"But you have received something in return…" Cynthia replied, pointing to her chest.

"Not just your body," Lucian responded. "I want your heart, Queen Cynthia. I've been humble enough to call you queen, to do anything for your love. If you were to walk down that aisle with me, all would be forgiven."

Cynthia sighed. "I'm sorry, Lucian, I just can't do it," she said. "I can't take your love anymore."

Lucian looked down sadly. "I knew it," he muttered. "I knew you felt feelings for Cyrus."

"No, that's not it," Cynthia said with a laugh. "I mean that I can't take your love freely anymore. From now on, I will make sure I earn your love. I may be queen, but I will make every effort for the rest of my life to make sure that I deserve what I receive from you. I will refuse to just steal your love from you - I will earn it."

She took his hand and looked straight into his eyes.

"I ask you to marry me," she said. "This Saturday. And with it I promise never to see that awful Cyrus again."

Lucian smiled. "You really mean it, my queen?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Cynthia replied. "Please, accept my love."

Lucian gave a small laugh. "Absolutely, Queen Cynthia," he said. "You know that's what I've always wanted."

The two began laughing, then they went into an all-out romantic moment of intimacy.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cyrus was still fuming, with his commanders.

"That Queen Cynthia!" he shouted. "I know she loves me, I know she does!"

"Then what are you going to do about it?" Mars asked.

"We'll obey her orders first, to gain her approval and respect," Cyrus replied. "Then, our mission will be to go all-out and kill that Lucian!"

"What about the Adamant Orb?" Jupiter questioned.

"The Adamant Orb will fall into place if we just stay the course," Cyrus responded. "If Cynthia loses her lover, she'll realize who her true lover is - me. Then she'll be forced to use the orb in creating a new world - where only the five of us live!"

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Saturn asked.

"Of course I'm never sure when it comes to her," Cyrus responded. "But I've worked all my life for the moment where I could be part of a brand new world, living together in harmony with Cynthia at my side. No other woman will do for me, only her. That is why I will make every effort to please her, and to eliminate that Lucian, so my goal can finally be achieved."

"That's going to be hard…" Mars warned.

"Shut up!" Cyrus snapped. "You three are going to help me all along the way. If you don't, then you won't get to be part of our new world!"

"Okay, boss, we'll go along with you," Saturn sighed.

Cyrus's dreams had been broken, but not completely shattered. He was resolved to make Cynthia his woman, and he would stop at nothing to gain her back. If it required the killing of the one man whom Cynthia truly loved, he would kill him.

_Cynthia doesn't truly love Lucian,_ Cyrus reasoned. _When she sees I am more powerful than him, she will change her mind about that fool, and instead choose me instead._

Thus Cyrus and his commanders went back on their way to the Sinnoh League headquarters, ready to obey Cynthia's orders again, but this time with a new goal in mind.


	10. No Son of Mine

Chapter 10

No Son of Mine

On yet another day where Cynthia went out to sit on her throne, alone, Lucian was left to take care of Roy, his newborn son. He began wondering, did Cynthia truly love him? And if she did not, then why was he here? It had been a long road to get here…

(January 1995)

Lucian was taking some books on the region's history out of a Sinnoh library, where he met a girl who was doing the same.

"Hi, what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Cynthia, but you can just call me Princess," the girl responded.

"Princess," he responded. "I like that… I'm Lucian."

After that day, Lucian began studying about Sinnoh's history with Cynthia. Every day he visited her at her home, where she sat on her throne, pretending to be a princess.

(March 1996)

Lucian began to become increasingly disturbed with the way his father treated his mother. Despite the fact that they were rich, Lucian's father constantly berated his wife over money. Lucian's father went so far as to physically abuse his wife.

_I promise, if I ever get married, I'll never treat my wife like that,_ Lucian thought._ I'll treat my wife like a queen._

(June 1997)

Lucian turned 13, and for his birthday he received a large amount of money from his parents. He immediately spent all of it on buying Cynthia a real crown, made of silver. In a ceremony before their Pokémon, Lucian crowned Cynthia, declaring her the princess of Celestic Town.

"I'm charmed, Lucian," Cynthia told him. "Here, I'll give you your birthday present."

She kissed him on the lips.

"You keep doing things like this for me, and I'll keep giving you what you want," she said.

However, his father was not too thrilled when he found out what he had done.

"You wasted that money on a woman?" he asked Lucian. "You're too soft!"

He slapped Lucian across the face.

"You better grow up soon, boy, and learn not to let women push you around!" his father screamed.

(April 1998)

Lucian's father continued to mistreat his wife, but she felt forced to live with him. Lucian could not take it anymore, as he went into an all-out fight with his father. However, his father, also a psychic, defeated him easily, and embarrassed the poor boy in front of his hurting mother. Lucian then kissed his mother goodbye and ran away.

Lucian knew where his grandfather lived, on Route 228. He made his way there and began living with his mother's father. He brought many of his books with him, and began building up a whole library of books, mainly dealing with ESP.

(January 2000)

At the age of 16, Cynthia became a member of the Elite.

"Princess Cynthia," Lucian said to her, as she received her badge for becoming a member of the Elite, "I am honored to know someone like you."

"Lucian, you shall join me someday here," Cynthia replied. "And we together will be on top of the Pokémon League."

(March 2002)

Cynthia, at the age of 18, became Sinnoh League champion, while Lucian joined the Elite Four. When Cynthia was announced as champion, Lucian watched with awe, seeing his beautiful girlfriend lay claim to the top spot in Sinnoh.

"I'm so happy that Lucian will get to be with me in the Elite Four," she said to those awarding her the championship.

When the two were left alone, they shared some of their thoughts together.

"I have to go back," Lucian told Cynthia.

"Back where?" Cynthia asked.

"Back home… to my original home," Lucian responded.

"Lucian, you do not need to take responsibility for your father's actions," Cynthia explained. "You need to let go of the past."

"I'm sorry, Cynthia, I just won't be able to live with myself until I do," Lucian replied.

(April 2002)

Lucian made his way back to his original home. He felt extremely nervous as he knocked on the door. His father answered it.

"Lucian?" his father asked.

"Father," Lucian replied, seeing his father's eyes light up with rage.

"What kind of person do you think you are, just coming right back here after abandoning us like that?" his father yelled. "I refuse to even call you my son!"

"Mother?" Lucian pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Lucian… but you abandoned us," his mother added.

Lucian walked out in shock. As he made his way back to the Pokémon League, all he could think about was how alone he was, and how he needed someone to fill that hole in his life. That person was Cynthia.

(March 2003)

Lucian moved up to the top spot in the Elite Four, a whole year after Cynthia's coronation as champion. The Sinnoh League was rejected by the Indigo League, yet Lucian began to find something with Cynthia he never had before - acceptance.

"Cynthia, you mean everything to me," Lucian told her. "I promise to remain loyal to you… please remain loyal to me."

"I will never let anyone come between us, Lucian," Cynthia replied. "You have nothing to worry about."

(October 2003)

Lucian heard reports on the news about a man who had killed his wife before killing himself. Almost instantly he knew that it was his father. Surely enough, it was. This murder-suicide changed Lucian greatly. Previously someone who was gentle and passive, his heart grew angry and vengeful. He put all his hope into his girlfriend Cynthia, that she would become queen someday and that he would be her husband. And now, angrier than ever inside, he promised himself that he would stop at nothing to make her queen.

(July 2004)

It was discovered that Cynthia had dark powers along with her psychic powers. While Cynthia was still trying to figure out how to use her newfound powers, Lucian became consumed with ideas of how she could use them.

"This is it," he said. "This is what we've been waiting for, our big break. Now you can use these powers to get what you want - to become queen."

"Nonsense, Lucian, what good is becoming queen if it's only by force?" Cynthia replied. "I want people to recognize my royalty and respect me."

"No one respects us here in Sinnoh! They think we're inferior!" Lucian exclaimed. "You _will_ be queen. And you may have to use your powers to gain your rightful position."

(September 2004)

Cynthia met a woman from Johto named Karen who also had dark powers. Karen began training under Cynthia, learning how to use her dark powers better. At the same time, Cynthia was learning how to use her powers better herself. Lucian could not stop himself from thinking of how many ways she could use these powers to put herself in a royal position, yet Cynthia continued to refuse to use them in such a way.

(November 2004)

Lucian began to notice that Cynthia was spending more time training Karen than with him, and he became jealous. His heart, already hardened from his parents' deaths, became even more bitter as he felt torn away from Cynthia.

"Lucian, I'm merely trying to figure out how to use these powers of mine," Cynthia explained to him. "Please don't become jealous."

"You spend more time with that woman than with me now!" Lucian protested. "It's just not fair!"

"Oh, Lucian, someday I shall be queen and I will have all the time in the world with you," Cynthia replied.

(March 2005)

As Cynthia began to realize what sort of powers she had, Lucian began to plant seeds in her mind of hatred towards the other members of the Elite Four, Aaron, Bertha and Flint, all of which held grudges against Lucian and Cynthia for being so much better at Pokémon training than them.

"Those three would never accept you as queen," Lucian told Cynthia. "If you ever want to become queen, you must get rid of them."

"I know, but how?" Cynthia replied. "I can't just wipe them off the face of the earth."

Lucian gave Cynthia an evil grin.

"Yes, you can!" Lucian said. "You have the power to do just that."

At first Cynthia was reluctant, but the more and more the other Elite got on her nerves, the more she began to see things Lucian's way.

(June 2006)

Cynthia could not stand living with her grandparents anymore, so she moved in with Lucian into his apartment. She then came to Lucian and told him that her parents had been murdered by a psychic named Sabrina. Lucian instantly believed Cynthia and grew even angrier than before. He wanted Cynthia to take revenge on this murderer as soon as possible.

"Make no mistake about it, she will suffer punishment for this… all the more reason for you to become queen," Lucian told Cynthia.

(July 2007)

Lucian had grown impatient waiting for the right time for Cynthia to become queen, since Cynthia continued to insist that it was not yet the right time to use her powers. Then she ended up receiving a cry for help from the woman who had killed her parents - Sabrina. Lucian insisted on Cynthia killing Sabrina, but Cynthia thought that Sabrina may have set a trap for her, so she refused to kill her yet, instead helping Sabrina. All the time Lucian became more and more impatient, wanting his girlfriend to become queen.

(January 2008)

Sinnoh was invited to the Pokémon League tournament for the first time ever, but Lucian ended up performing terribly. While he defeated fellow Sinnoh trainer Candice in the first round, he was defeated by a gym leader from Johto named Gold. It was a true embarrassment to the top-ranked member of the Elite Four. When Cynthia failed to reach the championship round, Lucian came to her, asking for her to take revenge on all their fellow competitors.

"Patience, Lucian, I just can't kill everyone because of losses in Pokémon battles," Cynthia told him.

"You must become queen - and soon," Lucian replied.

(June 2008)

Lucian felt it was finally time for Cynthia to become queen of Sinnoh. He made it clear to Aaron, Bertha and Flint that Cynthia was going to take over as queen. All three of them refused.

"You're going to have to show them your power," Lucian told Cynthia.

"By… killing them?" Cynthia asked. "Lucian, if I do that I'll never be accepted as a queen by the people."

Lucian then hatched a plan to dump the blame on Giselle and Cyrus, and Cynthia finally agreed. She then sucked Aaron, Bertha and Flint into a black hole. Afterwards she and Lucian went to Indigo Plateau and blackmailed Giselle in order to take over there, and finally Lucian crowned Cynthia as queen. Lucian was finally happy, with Cynthia having achieved her goal of becoming queen.

However, after Erika and Giselle defeated Cynthia, the two were placed in prison, separated from each other. Lucian had no idea that his girlfriend had become pregnant. He cried every day, wishing only to see and touch Cynthia, yet the cold stone wall separated the two of them.

(March 3, 2009)

On the very day Cynthia gave berth to her son Roy, Byron and Roark helped both her and Lucian escape from prison. Lucian finally got to see his own son for the first time. He was so happy to be a father, and even happier when Cynthia took over as queen of Sinnoh.

(March 17, 2009)

After Cynthia went missing for a short period of time, Lucian teleported after her, only to find her passionately kissing Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic. He was heartbroken; after all he had done to put Cynthia into her position, she had betrayed him. Afterwards, however, Cynthia promised Lucian that she would marry him that coming Saturday.

(Today - March 18, 2009)

Lucian sat with his son Roy, continuing to wonder if Cynthia truly loved him. Why did she kiss Cyrus in such a passionate way? Did she really love Cyrus more than him? He could not help but wonder.

He then silently walked out towards Cynthia's throne room, catching a glimpse of her sitting on her throne, seemingly perfectly happy. He could only wonder if her happiness was contingent on his presence - or whether he was completely unnecessary to her.


	11. Prove Your Love

Chapter 11

Prove Your Love

The following day, Cynthia called for the eight Sinnoh gym leaders to meet with her in her throne room. They entered the room together, seeing Cynthia smiling from her throne with Lucian standing by, holding his baby Roy.

"I'm glad you could join me," Cynthia said.

She snapped her fingers.

"When I do that," she stated, "I expect each and every one of you to drop to your knees and bow."

The gym leaders looked at each other with a little bit of hesitation. Was Cynthia really this vain?

"Now, if you would," she said, snapping her fingers.

Most of the gym leaders fell to their knees and bowed, with Fantina pulling her dress in order not to wrinkle it. Candice, however, refused.

"So, I have one who refuses to bow," Cynthia stated.

"I cannot bow to you after what you did to me," Candice replied.

"Very well, then," Cynthia said, with an evil smile forming on her face. "Volkner!"

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Volkner replied, looking up at the Sinnoh queen.

"Would you please take out your Luxray and punish this girl?" Cynthia asked.

Volkner looked over at Candice in shock. "Never!" he cried. "I would never hurt her!"

Cynthia stared at Volkner, still smiling. "Perhaps you need some convincing," she said, beginning to form a ball of dark energy, which she fully intended on shooting at him.

"No, please, don't hurt him!" Candice cried.

"Then bow," Cynthia responded.

Candice quickly dropped to her knees and bowed. Cynthia motioned with her hand, and Volkner bowed again as well. Cynthia then smiled happily; there was nothing she enjoyed more than watching people bow before her.

"All of you will be at our wedding on Saturday," she stated. "You will bring your family and friends, all of you. When I walk down the aisle, I will snap my fingers, and every person in the room will drop to their knees and bow to me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," all eight trainers said in unison.

"Then we will resume our attacks on the land of Kanto, and anyone who refuses to help will have their life terminated immediately," Cynthia stated. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," the eight trainers replied again.

"Now, one order of business," she said. "Lucian!"

"Yes, my queen," Lucian said with a bow.

"Join them," she demanded.

Lucian quickly handed Roy over to Cynthia. He then took his place immediately in front of his girlfriend, dropped to his knees, and bowed.

"Thank you," Cynthia said. "You may become my husband, but each time I snap my fingers, you will bow along with these other trainers."

Lucian looked up angrily at Cynthia. "But Cynthia-" he began to protest.

Cynthia snapped her fingers at Lucian, and immediately he was knocked over by a wave of dark energy.

"I mean, Queen Cynthia," Lucian cried. "Please, I am to become your husband. I gladly bow to you on my own. I do not need to be told when to bow."

"Perhaps you do," Cynthia replied. "Or… perhaps you don't truly love me."

She sent a ball of dark energy at him, putting the psychic in pain.

"Queen Cynthia!" he cried. "Why?"

"I want you to prove to me how much you love me!" Cynthia shouted. "Are you willing to go through great pain for me?"

Cynthia shot more dark energy at her boyfriend, causing him to go into great agony.

"Please, Queen Cynthia, please!" Lucian cried. "Please have mercy on the one you will marry!"

The gym leaders looked over at Lucian in total shock, feeling confused and bewildered by Cynthia's behavior.

"Perhaps I got a little carried away," Cynthia said. "You may rise, Lucian."

However, Lucian was too hurt to stand up. He simply lay on the ground in pain, not able to lift his legs enough to stand.

"Why, my queen?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Lucian," Cynthia said. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

Lucian hid his face from Cynthia as he began to cry. He truly felt unnecessary and useless. If the woman he wanted to marry treated him like this, what did he have left to live for?

* * *

Later that evening, when Cynthia was still relaxing on her throne, Lucian had recovered enough to be able to walk again. He still felt some pain, but he was slowly getting better. He sat down in a room by himself, not knowing he was being watched.

"Queen Cynthia… why? You know I love you more than life itself," he muttered.

A girl came walking in closer to him. He was startled whenever he saw her scarred face.

"Candice?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm sorry," Candice replied. "I just wanted to give you my sympathy."

"Thank you, but I'm afraid it is of no use to me," Lucian stated. "My queen has no use for me… I am nothing special to her."

"Lucian, you can't take this," Candice said. "If she keeps on treating you like this, you refuse her love and choose to live without her."

"I can't," Lucian replied. "I love her more than myself… I would rather die than live a moment without her."

Candice looked at Lucian strangely. What was it that caused him to be so attracted to this woman?

"Lucian, you've got to stop treating her like she is so superior to you," Candice suggested. "You two are to be married - you are equal."

"I shall never be equal to her!" Lucian protested. "She is a queen! She has been royalty all her life! She is the most special woman in the world, and if I were to ever call myself equal to her, shame on me!"

"But you can't accept her abusing you," Candice said. "You can't let her punish you."

"If she chooses to punish me, that is her royal decision," Lucian replied. "I cannot argue with the decision of a queen. I can only wonder why she so chooses to treat me this way."

Candice shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't understand," she said. "What makes Cynthia a superior human being to you, or to me?"

Lucian glared at Candice. "How dare you talk about Queen Cynthia like that!" he yelled. "You need to learn to treat her with respect! She is superior to each and every one of us!"

Candice stepped away in shock. "I'm sorry," she replied. "I just can't understand your relationship. I wish I could help, but…"

She pointed to the scars on her face.

"I'm afraid of being hurt," she finished her statement, before walking out of the room.

* * *

The next morning, Cynthia remained in bed with Lucian, who refused to talk to her.

"Lucian," she said.

He remained silent.

"Lucian!" she shouted. "I demand you to respond."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia…" Lucian sighed.

"Lucian, I just want to tell you… I'm sorry," Cynthia said.

Lucian sighed, staring up at the ceiling. How much could he believe her?

"I really am," Cynthia stated. "I promised you I'd have to earn your love from now on, and I failed. I haven't earned your love with the way I've treated you."

Lucian did not respond.

"I just wanted… I just wanted you to prove your love to me," Cynthia continued. "I wanted to see how much you loved me… I wanted to see you risk your life for me… I thought it would be so beautiful."

"You think punishing me is beautiful?" Lucian asked.

"It is not," Cynthia replied. "That was my mistake. I wished for you to give your all for me, but my mistake was punishing you myself. You do not deserve to be treated in such a way."

She then snapped her fingers. Lucian looked at her with disgust, then rolled out of bed, dropping to his knees, and bowing before her.

"Lucian, I declare that from now on, you shall be treated like royalty yourself," Cynthia stated. "You no longer need to bow before me. Please stand."

Lucian stood up, but kept his head bowed.

"What is that matter?" Cynthia asked. "I told you that you do not need to bow."

"Queen Cynthia, I live for you," Lucian responded. "I bow to you because I love you. I kneel before you because I love you. I do whatever you say, because I love you so much. I never wished to be treated like royalty, and I refuse to be treated as such. I only wish to make you happy. That is my one - and only - request to you."

Cynthia smiled warmly. "Please, lift your head," she told him.

He lifted his head, looking at her.

"Lucian, I can never apologize enough for what I did to you. I was wrong," Cynthia said. "I beg you, please forgive me."

"You need not beg anyone, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied. "You are the queen."

"But forgiveness is not something I can demand from anyone," Cynthia stated. "That is something that is completely your choice. If you so choose, you may choose not to forgive me."

"Queen Cynthia, I want to forgive you. I want to love you. But, perhaps, I need you to prove your love… to me," Lucian replied.

Cynthia looked over at Lucian, seeing tears in his eyes. Knowing what he wanted, she then grabbed him as hard as she could and pressed her lips against his. She kissed him as long as she possibly could, before pausing to catch her breath. She went to kiss him again, when he motioned with his hand for her to stop.

"Please, I do not deserve such passion from you," Lucian said. "I forgot my place. You are the queen."

"And as queen I declare you receive all the kisses you want," Cynthia replied.

She then kissed him again, as he began to feel happier. She rubbed his shoulders and his back, trying to help his body feel better from the pain he had went through the previous day. She then grabbed him and pulled him onto the bed with her.

"Lucian, it's time," she stated.

He smiled, knowing exactly what she meant. The two lovers then shared an extreme moment of love, passion and intimacy.

And while perhaps no one else could understand it, the two of them did - they were in love, no matter what strange ideas they had in their heads, Cynthia having such a superiority complex, and Lucian such an inferiority complex. Both were happy in their positions, no matter how strange they were, and both were willing to live with each other forever, no matter what pain they had previously gone through. Cynthia and Lucian were to be married, regardless of how opposite the two lovers were.


	12. Pretty Woman

Chapter 12

Pretty Woman

It was finally the day of Cynthia and Lucian's wedding, to be held at the Sinnoh League headquarters. Cynthia was with her grandmother and her little sister, preparing her dress and everything, while Lucian was with his grandfather.

"Do you think she'll like me wearing this?" Lucian asked, showing his grandfather his white suit.

"Absolutely," his grandfather replied.

"Oh, I'm so worried," Lucian said. "If Queen Cynthia isn't happy, she could walk out on this wedding at any time. Then probably that awful Cyrus is waiting, where the two of them will go off and kiss and…"

"Lucian, do you trust Cynthia?" his grandfather asked.

"Absolutely," Lucian replied.

"Then you have nothing to worry about," his grandfather stated. "Just go out there and enjoy yourself."

Lucian took a deep breath. It was finally time to walk down the aisle.

As he waited for Cynthia in the aisle, he could not help but worry. What if she did not think of him as attractive enough? What if she suddenly changed her mind? What if she felt that he needed to prove his love to her again?

Then suddenly the hundreds of Sinnoh citizens who were gathered at the wedding let out a collective gasp. For there was their queen, dressed in the most beautiful black dress any of them had ever seen, along with black gloves and black high heels. She followed her sister, the flower girl, down the aisle, but before she reached Lucian she snapped her fingers.

Instantly everyone in the room, save for Lucian and the judge, dropped to their knees and bowed. This gave Cynthia a great deal of pleasure, and she gave Lucian a huge smile. She then walked up next to him and took his hand, before the two walked together up to the judge.

"You may rise," Cynthia stated. After she said this, all of the people rose from their knees and took their seats.

The two lovers then took their vows. Even as they did, many in the audience could not help but wonder why Cynthia and Lucian wore opposite colors compared to normal wedding clothes. Of course, that was because this relationship was the opposite of any the Pokémon world had ever seen, with Cynthia in complete control and Lucian merely living on every word that she spoke.

* * *

After the official ceremony was over, the newly married couple was congratulated by many of the Sinnoh citizens, all of whom bowed to Cynthia. Even Candice congratulated the two, while being worried about Cynthia's usual anger.

"Congratulations, Queen Cynthia," she said, bowing.

"Thank you, Candice," Cynthia replied.

Candice looked up to see Lucian smiling. She could tell that he was truly happy.

"And you too, Lucian," she told him.

"Thank you for all your help," he responded.

Cynthia simply warmly smiled at Candice, hiding her distaste towards the Ice Pokémon trainer.

* * *

A little later, all the citizens who were at the wedding were seated at tables, enjoying the food from the reception here. Cynthia stood in the front of all of them, ready to snap her fingers, but Lucian quickly grabbed her hand before she could.

"There's no need for that now," he told her.

Cynthia gave Lucian a fake smile before addressing the crowd.

"As queen of Sinnoh, my first demand with my new marriage to Lucian is that everyone bows to him as well," Cynthia declared. "He is royalty himself, and you shall treat him as such."

Lucian tried to avoid smiling. He felt truly touched by Cynthia's statement.

"Now, on another sort of business," Cynthia said. "We are going to continue to conquer Kanto, little by little, and I need the support of each and every one of you. For I know that they are going to come after me, with their new Team Rocket, and I expect everyone to be willing to risk your lives to defend me."

Lucian gave Cynthia a strange look. Surely she didn't actually need to be defended, what was the point in putting her citizens in harm's way?

"Some of you have questioned whether attacking Kanto is the morally right thing to do," Cynthia continued. "As if questioning the queen's authority is morally right itself. I declare that the land of Kanto is an evil land, run by awful people whose lives are rotten. Their champion, Giselle, is a dark and evil person who sucks people into black holes. Their Elite Four hold various secret powers which they use to attack people. And, worse of all, one of their premier gym leaders - Sabrina of Saffron City - murdered my parents."

Everyone in the room gasped.

"That is correct," Cynthia continued. "Three years ago, my mother and father were brutally murdered by Sabrina in what was purported to be an accident in Saffron City. These facts have been covered up by the police for too long. Now I wish to tell you all the truth, so that you will understand my reasoning for my hatred for this woman."

"Throw her in jail!" one person yelled.

"Give her the death penalty!" another shouted.

"She's not fit to live!" still another screamed.

Cynthia motioned with her hand for the people to settle, although their becoming angry was exactly what she wanted.

"This woman has been known to turn her enemies into dolls, as well as to use her psychic powers to defeat her opponents," she continued. "She is known as a hero in Kanto for her various exploits, as she and her husband Will are some of the richest people in the land."

Some people began mumbling stuff about how much they hated rich people. Even as they did, the gold from Cynthia's jewelry glistened in the light.

"And, worst of all," Cynthia said, with a fake tear in her eye, "I willingly helped Sabrina at one time, choosing to save her poor friend from a personality split, one that only a mighty psychic as myself could solve. I helped her with little thanks from her, only to have her spread false rumors about me and accuse me of murder. Now in the land of Kanto I am called a murderer, as I spent the nine months of my pregnancy behind bars."

"Kill Sabrina!" a person yelled.

"What an awful woman!" another person screamed.

"Let's get her!" yet another one shouted.

Lucian could not help but smiling. His wife was a master of rhetoric, besides her obvious skills in nearly every other important part of being a queen. She hooked all the people easily, now it was only a matter of reeling them in.

"My hope is that I would be able to obtain some small measure of revenge, by taking their land and bringing their gym leaders and important people to justice," Cynthia explained. "Sabrina is aligned with each and every one of them. Capturing one gym leader is almost like capturing Sabrina, taking a city is almost like taking her city. She is a dangerous woman and should not be touched. I will decide when the right time is to bring her to justice."

"Right now!" someone screamed.

"She doesn't deserve to live another moment!" another one yelled.

Even Cynthia had a hard time holding back her smile at this point. But yet she pushed on, continuing to sway the crowd.

"Patience, patience," she told everyone. "For I foresee Sabrina being turned on by her own people and sent to jail in extreme embarrassment. It will be later, once we as Sinnoh take over Kanto, after some great deliberation, choose whether she lives the rest of her life in prison, or dies."

"Kill her!" a man screamed.

"One murder deserves another!" another man yelled.

Cynthia's smile was uncontrollable at this point, she almost broke into laughing. Were her own people this easy to sway?

"Well, if you excuse me, I have some important business to take care of," she said.

She immediately turned to Lucian and began a long French kiss with him, met by "oohs" and "aahs" and much applause.

* * *

That night, Cynthia and Lucian lay in bed together, enjoying one of their most intimate moments ever. Both were laughing and giggling, in perfect happiness.

"You know, I never realized how brilliant of a person you are before today," Lucian mentioned. "You may be the smartest person I've ever met."

"How dare you question my brilliance!" Cynthia snapped, but with a giggle.

"Oh, Queen Cynthia, I just love finding out new things about you every day," Lucian replied.

"And I just love finding out how adorable you are as my husband," Cynthia responded.

"Now, please tell me, do you fully intend on treating me like royalty?" Lucian asked.

"_I _won't treat you like royalty," Cynthia replied. "I'm still queen, you still do not have a title."

"May I have one?" Lucian asked.

"No," Cynthia replied coldly.

"As you wish, Queen Cynthia," Lucian said. "But what then did you mean by that?"

"Oh, I just meant that I expect everyone to treat you with respect, though you may not force them to bow before you," Cynthia responded. "That would be too demanding."

"I understand," Lucian stated. "But I'll live with you forever, right?"

Cynthia paused for a second, causing Lucian's heart to pound faster.

"Why would you ask that question?" she questioned him.

"Oh, because…" Lucian said.

"Of course we'll live with each other forever!" Cynthia exclaimed. "Don't be silly!"

"Okay," Lucian said, before Cynthia grabbed his face and kissed him.

"You don't worry about anything getting in the way of our relationship," she told him. "I promise, I won't let anything - or anyone - ever interrupt our happiness ever again."

_Not even your ego?_ Lucian thought, forgetting for a moment that Cynthia could read his mind.

"How dare you say that!" Cynthia shouted.

"I'm sorry, Queen Cynthia," Lucian said. "It's just-"

"Oh, it's okay," Cynthia replied. "Trust me, I'll remain the same humble person I've always been, even as queen. You don't have to worry about me ever becoming too power-hungry or too royal for you."

Not even Lucian believed the words coming out of Cynthia's mouth, but he remained silent, refusing even to think anything that Cynthia could snap at him about.

"Now just relax," Cynthia told him. "You and I will live perfect lives, me as queen, and you as the husband to the queen. And we will raise Roy to be a great man, greater than you."

"Though not greater than you, since that's just not possible," Lucian said.

Cynthia giggled again, before kissing him.

"You're right on about that, my husband," she stated.


	13. The Murderer

Chapter 13

The Murderer

After being released from the hospital, Erika suddenly found her life in turmoil. After a year of a stable relationship with Brock, she found him flirting with both the Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny of Celadon City. What made it worse was that Brock made it plain and clear that he preferred the flirting game to being with Erika - he found it too difficult being with only one woman. When he told her that, Erika promptly broke up with him.

She was back in her gym, resting among her plants. While she hid her tears, inside she was very upset, having lost the first boyfriend of her life. This perhaps made her more on edge, not ready to handle any other problems at hand.

* * *

Sabrina continued to feel extremely guilty over the death of Cynthia's parents, which she had indirectly caused when she was being controlled by Mewtwo, as it was her who told Mewtwo to attack and kill them. She continued to talk with Will about it, but Will insisted that it was not her fault.

"You were controlled by the strongest Pokémon we've ever heard of," Will told her. "There's no way you would have done that if you had control over your mind. Think about it, Sabrina, would you even kill Cynthia, after all she's done to you?"

"No," Sabrina replied. "But Will… I am responsible… even if I didn't mean to…"

"And that's the key, Sabrina, you didn't mean to," Will said. "So just relax, really. You have a pure heart, not like that awful queen."

Sabrina was still unconvinced. As much as she trusted Will, inside she felt that Will was too afraid to give her an honest opinion, because of his unbridled compassion for her. She felt that he would hide his true feelings just to make her feel better, as he loved her that much. So she decided to seek out someone else's opinion.

But before she could, she was interrupted.

"So, Sabrina, I hear you're a killer!"

"You shut your mouth!" Will screamed at Liza, who had teleported into their midst. "If you go and tattle on her, I'll kill you personally!"

"Oh, come on, you know I was just joking," Liza replied. "Sabrina would never kill anyone… no, she's not strong enough to do that. No wonder it took so long for us to beat Team Rocket."

Sabrina looked to be in considerable distress, getting Will angrier.

"Just go away!" Will yelled. "The last thing Sabrina needs is someone picking on her, and that's precisely what you're doing! Go back to Hoenn and pick on someone your own size!"

"Excuse me, but I think the runner-up of the Pokémon League championship has a little more sway than a man who can't even get to the quarterfinals!" Liza responded.

"Why, you!" Will snapped.

The two of them then started chasing each other, Liza teleporting from one room in Sabrina's mansion to another, with Will teleporting after her. As they played their cat-and-mouse game, Sabrina teleported away herself, going to seek out help from someone whom she trusted very much, someone whom she knew would give her an honest opinion.

* * *

Erika was surprised to see Sabrina teleport right in front of her. She was happy to see her best friend at a time when she was suffering emotionally.

"Sabrina," she said with a melancholy voice.

"Lady Erika," Sabrina replied. "Is something the matter?"

Erika frowned, knowing Sabrina could not read her mind thanks to her dark powers. "My boyfriend Brock broke up with me," she told her.

"I'm sorry," Sabrina replied.

"I should have never trusted him… it's my fault for thinking he'd stay with only one woman," Erika stated.

"Now don't worry, I'm sure there will be many men just lining up to go out with you," Sabrina responded.

"I wish I had a man like your Will," Erika commented.

Sabrina did not take the hint. "He sticks around, that's for sure," she said, trying to hide her true feelings towards him.

"Now, I know you well enough that you wouldn't just teleport here for no reason," Erika stated. "I can put aside my problems to help you. Please tell me, Sabrina, what ails you?"

Sabrina smiled. "I knew I could count on you, Lady Erika," she said.

"Please, just call me Erika," Erika replied.

"I insist," Sabrina stated. "You've earned your title, unlike someone else."

"Queen Cynthia?" Erika asked.

"Yes, and she's part of what I want to talk about today," Sabrina replied.

"What about her?" Erika questioned.

"Her parents are dead," Sabrina stated. "They died nearly three years ago."

Erika looked confused. "I see," she said. "Why does this concern you?"

Sabrina took a deep sigh. "Cynthia has good reason for hating me," she replied. "I… killed them."

Erika gasped. Sabrina wished she could read what was on her mind, but she could not.

"Now please understand, Lady Erika, I didn't have control over my actions when I did," Sabrina said. "I was being controlled by Mewtwo at the time, you probably remember this, when I was with Team Rocket. I had no control over what I did, Mewtwo completely controlled my mind, and after I regained control over myself, I lost my memory of what occurred, before Cynthia told me. I must have told Mewtwo to attack her parents and kill them, and then to cover up the incident… so unfortunately I am responsible for their deaths."

Erika just stared at Sabrina with her mouth wide open.

"Lady Erika, what do I do?" Sabrina asked. "I feel so guilty for this, yet I know deep inside that I didn't mean to cause their deaths. Please tell me, what should I do to make up for it?"

Erika did not reply at first, but then suddenly she thrust her arms out and created a dark mist, which wrapped around Sabrina's body in a ring, preventing Sabrina from teleporting or even moving.

"I'm sorry, Sabrina," Erika said. "But you are a murderer, and I must not let you get away with what you have done."

Sabrina simply sighed, resigned to her fate, knowing she could not escape from the dark mist, as it stopped her from teleporting away. "I understand, Lady Erika," she stated.

Erika called the police. Within minutes, the police arrived at her gym, with guns loaded and ready to fire.

"Shall we fire?" Officer Jenny shouted.

"Only if she tries to escape," Erika replied, with Sabrina looking over at her best friend in shock. "Take her away!"

The police grabbed Sabrina by the arms, while she was still surrounded by a ring of dark mist. They then dragged her out of the gym and to the police station. Within minutes, they threw her in jail, as she ended up in Cynthia's old jail cell, now repaired from Cynthia's escape. Erika followed the police to the jail, and she began creating a dark mist all around the jail cell, which would prevent Sabrina from escaping via teleportation.

"You used to be my friend," Erika stated, creating the dark mist. "But now you are nothing more than a criminal. You shall stay here for the rest of your life, you murderer. And now I regret my actions, for I see that Queen Cynthia was right all along."

Sabrina did not know what to say, even as Erika lifted the mist off her body, allowing her to at least move, though the dark mist around the room prevented her from teleporting away. Erika herself slammed the jail cell door on Sabrina, who rushed to it in protest.

"Lady Erika, hear me out!" Sabrina cried.

"I shall hear nothing from a criminal!" Erika shouted. "Officers, notify her family of her arrest. This shall be told to everyone in Kanto, that Sabrina Saffron is a murderer!"

* * *

Officer Jenny of Celadon City came to Will and told him about Sabrina's arrest, and her new home in jail. Will wanted to attack the officer himself, as he was so angry, but a now-mellow Liza held him back.

"Officer, I tell you, Sabrina had no control over what she did!" Will shouted. "If you want to blame anyone, it's that awful Pokémon Mewtwo, which is now dead!"

"If you wish, you may visit the prisoner," Jenny retorted. "But you can forget about seeing her free again. She admitted to the crime herself!"

_What got into her? _Will thought.

"Take me to her, now!" Will demanded.

* * *

Will was taken to Sabrina's jail cell, where through the dark mist he saw his wife behind bars, sitting on her bed.

"Sabrina!" he cried. "What did you say?"

Sabrina looked up, startled. "Will!" she responded. "I told Lady Erika about what I did, and she called for my arrest. I don't have a choice, she's surrounded me with dark mist, I can't escape."

"Why did you tell her?" Will asked.

"I thought I could trust her," Sabrina replied. "I thought she would give me some advice on how to relieve my guilt."

Erika suddenly appeared in the corner of the hallway, walking towards Will.

"Okay, that's enough time with the prisoner," she said. "Get out of here!"

"Wait!" Will cried. "Sabrina, I can't live without you! You can't stay here!"

Sabrina just looked down. "Will, I want you to take over the Saffron gym for me," she said.

"Sabrina!" Will shouted in protest.

"My leader position is yours," she continued.

"Sabrina!" Will yelled.

"And Roxette… make her a better woman than me," she said.

"Sabrina!" Will screamed.

At that moment Erika shot some dark energy towards Will, knocking him over. She then called for the police officers to take him away. They quickly came and dragged him out of the police station.

"You may visit once a week," Officer Jenny told Will. "We'll allow you 15 minutes with her, but that is all. She is a dangerous criminal, and we will watch you every second of the way to make sure you do not plan her escape."

"She deserves a trial!" Will protested. "You can't just throw her in jail! She has the right to a trial!"

"In times like these, where our land is under attack by Sinnoh, we as the police obtain emergency rights to take dangerous criminals into custody without a trial," Jenny replied. "Besides, she admitted to the crime herself. What can you say to defend her?"

"She had no control over herself!" Will cried. "I promise you, it wasn't her fault!"

"Go away, or we'll arrest you too," Jenny demanded, pushing Will away.

Will walked back towards Saffron City, in great anger and sadness at the same time.

* * *

"So she's been given a life in prison sentence?" Liza asked.

"I suppose," Will replied. "I get to see her once a week. Poor Roxette's going to grow up without a mother."

"I'll help take care of her," Liza offered.

"Thanks but no thanks," Will said. "I have more business to take care of."

"Like running the gym now?" Liza questioned.

Will sighed. "I don't deserve the honor of running the Saffron gym," he said. "But tomorrow I'll tell the Indigo League that I have been given control of the gym."

"Well, that's a real shame," Liza said. "Now, back to more important business: I'm a member of the Elite and you aren't!"

Will wanted to strangle Liza, though he realized that deep down, she was joking.

"Liza, you and I are going to get Sabrina free," he told her.

"How?" Liza asked. "You know we're powerless against dark powers."

"That's not it," Will replied. "We're going to prove Sabrina's innocence - to everyone, even her."

"How can we do that?" Liza questioned. "Sabrina admitted to the crime herself, what are we going to do to defend her? They're going on her word, not ours. Sabrina dug her own grave."

"Don't say crap like that!" Will yelled. "I will risk everything I have left if that is what it takes to free Sabrina."

"What do you even have to risk?" Liza asked. "You aren't exactly Mr. Elite anymore?"

"You'll see," Will replied. "But you have to understand, Sabrina _is_ my life. I can't live a moment without her. I'm dying inside already. She was the one who always got us out of these tough situations. But over and over again, I've had to rescue her, and I just feel so out of place. She was always stronger than me; I can't possibly be stronger than her."

"Be a man," Liza said. "You can make it without her for a little while."

"Who protected us through our battles with Team Rocket? Who was always there for us in the worst situations?" Will questioned. "It was always her. Maybe you don't understand what it's like to be married, but this ring on my finger means a whole lot."

"And so does the ring on hers… like ¥10000000!" Liza teased.

"I promised to pay that off," Will sighed. "But more importantly, I will prove her innocence for all to see, even to herself. Are you with me, Liza?"

"Oh, I don't know," Liza responded. "It's going to cost you."

"What?" Will demanded.

"Oh, maybe ¥1000," Liza replied.

Will reached into his pocket and reluctantly handed the money over to Liza.

"You know I was only joking," Liza said. "I would have helped you for free, but I'll take the money."

Will groaned. "If Sabrina wasn't in jail right now, I'd kill you," he grumbled. "But I need your help, and we're going to figure out how to prove her to be innocent."

Will and Liza shook hands, then the two set out for business, not knowing the trials waiting ahead for them.


	14. Bad Day

Chapter 14

Bad Day

The following day, Will went to work at Silph Company. Being the vice-president, he had all sorts of privileges, and he decided he was going to push the limits of those privileges. The first thing he wanted to do was to get a record of all the accidents that had occurred in the building since 2006, the year of the death of Cynthia's parents. The person in charge of such records was indignant upon Will's asking for them.

"Why do you want to see those?" he asked Will.

"It's important, okay?" Will responded. "Besides, I can fire you if I want."

"Oh, all right," the person replied. "We've got all the records since 2007."

"2007?" Will asked. "What about before that?"

"We destroyed all the records from when Team Rocket had taken over this place," the man explained. "Why would you care about those, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing," Will said. "I guess I don't need to see them anyway."

With his first attempt ruined, Will now turned to trying to find the surveillance videos from the past. This time he was in luck; the company had kept surveillance videos from past accidents in case they were needed for police investigations.

"Yes, we have all of that," a man told Will. "But unfortunately for you they're off limits to anyone besides the police."

"But I need to see them," Will said.

"Sorry, you're not a member of the police force," the man responded. "That's the rule."

Will was upset about this, but he had a plan. He ended up staying at the building late, way after closing hours. The president of the company was about to leave at this point.

"Why haven't you gone home yet, Will?" the president asked him.

"Oh, I have some extra work to take care of," Will replied.

"Good luck with all that," the president responded, before leaving.

Once the president was gone, Will snuck to the part of the building where the surveillance videos were kept. The man in charge of them was gone, so Will only needed to open it with a key. Fortunately for him, he had a master key which opened up any door in the building. He opened the door and began searching through the videos.

"2008… 2007… 2006… now what month was that in?" Will said. "I'm thinking sometime in the spring…"

Will continued searching through the videos. He had to play some of them to see what was on them. Quickly he figured out when Team Rocket was still in the building, then he found where Sabrina had worked. Eventually he was able to find the video of Sabrina using Mewtwo to attack two people and kill them.

"This is it," he said. "I'm taking this."

"Are you?" a person asked.

It was the president, who was alerted to this by a surveillance video himself. He had been told by the woman at the front desk that there was suspicious activity going on, and now he had found that suspicious activity.

"Uh, I was just…" Will began to say.

"I know what you were trying to do, and it's illegal," the president replied. "But I won't call the police on you."

"You won't?" Will asked with relief.

"No," the president said. "Because you're fired."

Will looked at the president in shock. "But-" he began.

"No buts about it," the president said. "Get out of this building and leave the video here."

Will quickly teleported away, taking the video with him. He was more interested in trying to prove Sabrina's innocence than keeping his job.

* * *

"So, you got yourself fired?"

"Oh, shut up, Liza."

It was the following day, as Will had been fully informed of his discharge from Silph Company. Will had returned a video to the company in exchange for him not being turned into the police, but the video he returned was actually a movie that Sabrina and he had at home. The company never checked that, leaving Will to keep the surveillance video.

"Look, I didn't see you helping me," Will told Liza.

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Liza asked. "I'm not that good with that sort of stuff."

"Something you're not good at, that you actually admit," Will said. "Now there's a surprise."

Will began playing the video on his television. "Look," he told Liza. "You can clearly see that Mewtwo's eyes are glowing… he's controlling Sabrina all the way."

"I can't see it," Liza replied. "It's all in black and white."

"Look closer," Will said.

Liza did so, as Will played back the video. She could notice Mewtwo's eyes glowing, as Sabrina then commanded Mewtwo on what to do.

"That doesn't prove anything," Liza commented. "For all we know, Sabrina could have been in control the whole time. You just lost your job for nothing!"

Will glared at Liza, but said nothing. He was convinced that this video was going to prove Sabrina's innocence, at a yet-to-be-determined trial.

* * *

Later in the day, the videophone rang. Will picked it up to see Lance on the other end of the line, wearing his usual cape.

"Lance?" Will asked. "What is it?"

"I am here to contact you about the new ownership of the Saffron gym," Lance replied. "We have heard the news that Sabrina has been arrested for murder and has relinquished ownership of her gym."

The very words made Will bristle. "Yes, that is correct," he replied sternly.

"We would like to let you know that the Saffron gym leadership has been passed to the second-in-command," Lance continued.

"Yes…" Will said, wondering why Lance even had to tell him this. Sabrina had told him himself that he was in charge of the gym!

"According to our records, there were two gyms in Saffron City, one of them Sabrina's gym, and the other one the Fighting Dojo," Lance stated. "The Fighting Dojo was the original gym, before getting taken over by the psychic gym. Because of that, the Fighting Dojo has the rights to the second-in-command position, and thus Kiyo will take over leadership of Saffron City's gym immediately."

"What?" Will screamed.

"Kiyo has already been notified of the Indigo League's decision," Lance continued. "Please have a nice day."

"Wait a minute, that gym belonged to Sabrina!" Will yelled. "And now, it belongs to whoever she wanted to give it to!"

"No, I'm afraid the two-gym system makes Saffron City a special case," Lance replied. "You have no rights to the gym. Perhaps if you wanted a special position, you should have stayed with the Elite."

Will wanted to throw something at the videophone. "This isn't fair!" he shouted.

"Yes, it is," Lance responded. "Now please have a nice day."

* * *

Lance hung up. "Some nice day I'm having," Will muttered.

That evening, Will heard someone knock on the door. He opened it to see Erika.

"Lady Erika," he stated.

"Will," Erika replied. "I have come here to apologize."

"I understand that you were just trying to help the police," Will said. "I forgive you."

"May I come in?" Erika asked.

"Sure," Will said.

Will made tea for Erika, as the two sat together, talking about Sabrina's situation. Erika seemed genuinely sorry to Will.

"I didn't want to do it," Erika said. "I just… I just wanted justice to be served."

"I have proof that Sabrina was being controlled, that it wasn't her fault," Will replied. "And I will prove it in a trial."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to do that," Erika stated. "I don't think the police are going to accept a trial for a case where the suspect turned herself in."

"I will get one, no matter what," Will said. "Would you help me?"

He looked Erika right in the eyes. Her cheeks reddened as he did so.

"Oh, of course," Erika replied.

The two remained silent for a minute, before Erika brought up something else.

"You sure are loyal to the ones you love, aren't you?" she asked.

"I guess you could say that," Will answered.

"I like that in a man," Erika replied, looking down with embarrassment. "I never got that from Brock."

Will did not understand. He could not read her mind due to her dark powers, so he was clueless to what she actually meant. "Lady Erika, I'm sorry," he said.

"Oh, it's not your fault, Will," Erika told him. "I'm sure that if you were my boyfriend, you wouldn't let me down."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Will stated. "I'm sort of like that."

Erika sipped her tea, smiling at him. "So, what's with the mask?" she questioned. "I've always wanted to know."

"Oh, the mask?" Will responded. "It's something I was given at a young age… I was told never to reveal my face to anyone I didn't trust."

"So I assume you let Sabrina see your face," Erika remarked.

"Yes… that's right," Will said.

"Do you trust me?" Erika asked, smiling innocently.

Will looked at Erika closely, and thought about how she was close to Sabrina. He did not want to damage such a relationship, so he reached for his mask, pulling it off.

"Wow…" Erika commented, staring at Will's face. "You sure are handsome without that mask. You ought to keep it off."

"If I just stayed inside all the time, I probably would," Will commented.

Erika continued smiling at Will. "What do you think of me?" she asked.

Will was thrown off by this question. "Well, I think of you as important, since you are Sabrina's best friend," he replied.

"Important," Erika said. "I like that."

She moved closer to Will, who still did not take any hint of what Erika was feeling.

"Let me see your wedding ring," Erika asked.

Will held out his hand, showing her his wedding ring.

"It's nice," she commented.

She reached out and touched his hand, then suddenly pulled at the ring and ripped it off his finger.

"What are you doing?" Will asked.

"You're mine," Erika said.

She thrust out her hands and created a dark mist around Will, restricting his movements. He found himself unable to escape, physically or psychically. She moved in closer to his face.

"Will, you're the perfect man," Erika told Will.

"Lady Erika, don't do it!" Will protested.

Erika then pressed his lips against his. Will tried doing everything he could to break away from the kiss, but the dark powers Erika used stopped him from moving, and he could not help being kissed by her. He hated every moment of Erika's kiss, which lasted for a full minute, until he was gasping for air.

"You're wonderful, Will," Erika said.

"You're no lady!" Will shouted. "You're… you're… you're-"

He searched for the right word, but could not find it. Meanwhile, Erika picked up his wedding ring and slipped it into her kimono.

"You won't need that anymore," Erika told Will. "Sabrina's never getting out of prison, and I'll make sure the police know that you are conspiring with Sabrina to break her out, so you won't be able to visit her again."

"That's a lie!" Will protested.

"Face it, Will, your marriage with Sabrina is over," Erika stated. "You're best off just giving in and taking me as your wife… I promise I won't kill anyone."

Those words hurt Will greatly, but he could not move at all. "You… you… you…"

"I shall be your wife," Erika told Will. "We will take your baby as our own, and I will be her mother. Her name, again?"

"Roxette," the helpless Will muttered.

"Roxette… I like it," Erika replied. "Yes, Roxette will be our daughter. You and I, Will… we'll have a great romantic marriage together. I know you'll remain loyal to me, the same way you were loyal to Sabrina. And I won't let you down, I'm a pure-hearted woman, unlike your previous wife. You will take my last name, Celadon. You and I will live in Celadon City, and you'll completely forget about your past. And…"

She held out her hand, which released more dark mist.

"You won't have a choice about it."


	15. Appetite for Destruction

Chapter 15

Appetite for Destruction

The following day, Cynthia called her sister and Lucian in front of her throne. She snapped her fingers, and immediately both of them dropped to their knees before her. Each of them bowed to her.

"Yes, Queen Cynthia?" Lucian asked.

"Yes, Queen Sister?" Cynthia's sister Diane asked.

"You are to keep watch over Roy and the Sinnoh headquarters while I am gone," Cynthia told them. "I have some business in Kanto to take care of."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"Yes, Queen Sister," Diane said.

The two remained with their heads bowed until Cynthia teleported away from them.

* * *

The Sinnoh gym leaders were given orders by Cynthia to attack Fuchsia City. Each of them stood in a corner of the city, where they prepared to use their Pokémon for attacks. Gym leader A.J. was totally unaware of what was about to occur.

"Go!" Byron shouted.

Each of the trainers took a signal from each other, and sent out their Pokémon to attack the city. Candice and Fantina joined in, scared of Cynthia's wrath if they refused to obey. Their Pokémon immediately caused destruction in the city, tearing down houses and sending people running for their lives. Candice in particular felt very badly about it, but she had no choice - the scars on her face told her that she had to obey Cynthia's orders.

A.J. ran out of his gym in panic, finding out about the attacks. He sent out his Pokémon to fight back, but they were soundly defeated. In a matter of hours, the Sinnoh gym leaders' Pokémon had sent the entire city of Fuchsia fleeing to a nearby route, while buildings were in shambles. Sinnoh had now successfully conquered Pewter and Fuchsia City, but more was to come.

* * *

Cynthia appeared on Cinnabar Island. A few citizens saw the Sinnoh queen, and they immediately asked her what she was doing there. She snapped her fingers at them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" they asked her.

"Bow," she commanded them.

"We don't bow to you!" they replied.

"You will," Cynthia stated.

She then swung her arms around, sending psychic waves all over the island. The ground suddenly began to shake.

"What's happening?" the people asked.

"Your island is about to erupt," Cynthia told them. "It's your punishment for not bowing before me."

She teleported away. The citizens began running around in panic.

"Where's our gym leader, Ritchie?" one person asked.

"He's visiting his girlfriend Violet in Cerulean City," another person responded.

"What are we to do?" another one asked.

"Run for your lives!" a person screamed.

It was too late. Before they could escape, a volcano underneath the island erupted, sending lava all over the island, killing each and every person living there, over a hundred of them. The Pokémon Mansion and all of its Pokémon housed inside were killed as well, in the worst "natural" disaster in Kanto history.

* * *

When this was reported on the news in Cerulean City, Ritchie was astounded. His girlfriend Violet seemed oblivious to how bad the problem actually was, but he knew this was an absolute disaster. He did not even know how to go on.

"Like, what's the matter, Ritchie?" Violet asked. "So a big volcano blew up on your island, like, what does that mean?"

"It means all the citizens there are dead!" Ritchie exclaimed. "And now my gym is destroyed with everything else! Come on, we've got to check out the damage."

"Like, isn't that dangerous or something?" Violet questioned. "You know, Ritchie, I don't want to put my beautiful body in danger."

"Don't worry, my Pokémon will keep you safe," Ritchie replied.

* * *

While Ritchie and Violet were headed to Cinnabar Island, the Sinnoh gym leaders appeared before Cynthia, who sat on her throne. She snapped her fingers, and the eight of them fell to their knees, bowing before her.

"You have done well," Cynthia stated. "I am especially surprised with the performance by Candice and Fantina, finally deciding to obey the queen's orders. I am impressed with you two most of all."

"Thank you, Queen Cynthia," Candice replied, just fearing for her own life.

"I also have news that the awful murderer Sabrina has been put in prison for her deeds," Cynthia added. "She seemed to have turned herself in. Does everyone feel this is an adequate punishment?"

The trainers looked over at each other, while still keeping their heads bowed. They did not know how to answer her.

"I'm not sure," Volkner said.

"It is not!" Cynthia shouted. "Only death of this murderous woman will ever be enough to satisfy me! I shall need the eight of you to attack Celadon City in order to distract the police while I go to her cell and personally kill her. This will all happen tomorrow. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," the eight trainers said in unison.

"Good," Cynthia replied. "Now you may leave."

The eight trainers got up from their knees and left the throne room, as Lucian came in. Cynthia immediately snapped her fingers, and he dropped to his knees and bowed.

"My Lucian, how is our son?" Cynthia asked.

"He is well, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"Sabrina will die tomorrow, I will make sure of it personally," Cynthia stated.

"As long as it satisfies you, Queen Cynthia, I am happy," Lucian responded.

"That's what I like to hear," Cynthia said.

* * *

Cyrus was fuming as he led his Team Galactic members toward Vermillion City. Cynthia gave him a meaningless mission, to take out a city that meant little to her, all because she wanted him out of her hair. Yet he obeyed, partially to avoid her anger, and partially because he loved to please her.

"Come on, we've got to do this, whether we like it or not," he told his commanders, who glared at him angrily. "Get out your Pokémon and prepare to wreck anything in sight."

The commanders did so, as they entered the city, and within minutes Vermillion City was in ruins. Cyrus swallowed several innocent citizens into his black holes that he created from his dark powers. Lt. Surge found himself as the only defense as Team Galactic marched toward his gym.

"Your gym is ours," Mars stated.

Lt. Surge then sent out his Pokémon, and his Raichu was able to survive Team Galactic's attacks and defeat their Pokémon. However, when Cyrus arrived, Lt. Surge was hopeless, having no defense against his dark powers.

"Face it, Surge, your gym will be no more," Cyrus said. "I'm about to swallow it up in a black hole."

As Cyrus began creating a black hole with his hands, Lt. Surge then thought of an idea. "Instead of you swallowing up my gym, why not just take it?" he asked. "I'll surrender it to you."

"We have no use for that gym," Jupiter said. "Just destroy it!"

"Hold on a second," Cyrus stated. "This could be useful to us… we could use it as a Kanto base. We'll take it. You, however, have got to get out of town, before I destroy you in my black hole."

"Understood," Lt. Surge replied, taking his Pokémon and leaving the city. Never before had he been so embarrassed, to have to surrender in such a way. Yet now Team Galactic had taken over his gym.

* * *

Erika brought the helpless Will into her gym, where he was still wrapped up in dark mist, unable to escape. She leaned in close to him and kissed him again on the lips, even as he tried in vain to avoid the kiss.

"You're mine, Will," she told him.

"Please, Erika, don't do this," Will replied. "You know my heart belongs to Sabrina and Sabrina only."

"Sabrina's as good as dead," Erika stated. "You and I will get married… tomorrow, how about that?"

"Tomorrow? How about never?" Will exclaimed.

"Will, you have no escape," Erika replied. "I'm calling up everyone I know and inviting them to our wedding. It's going to be so romantic!"

Will groaned. _Liza,_ he thought. _This is when I actually need you… show up soon…

* * *

_

Sabrina sat in prison alone, crying. She had lost everything, and yet… it was not her fault. She had been controlled by Mewtwo, and forced to commit a heinous crime. Because of her great guilt over what had occurred, she told someone who refused to believe her innocence, and now she was here, alone in prison.

She stared at the wall in sadness, noticing small lettering that seemed to be scraped into it. As she looked closer, she could make out the words "Queen Cynthia." These were just the words to cause her to break into tears again. This was where her archrival had stayed in prison, and Cynthia had left a reminder of her position, which she only gained after her escape. Sabrina thought about Cynthia sitting on her throne, laughing and enjoying her life, while she suffered in prison… and she could only cry.

* * *

"We've successfully completed your mission, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus told Cynthia on the videophone. "We're here from the Vermillion Gym, which we have taken over as its leader gave up on it."

"I told you to destroy everything," Cynthia replied. "Get out of that gym now and swallow it up in a black hole."

"Queen Cynthia, why waste such a good building?" Cyrus asked. "It will be much easier to operate out of Kanto if we have an extra base."

"Destroy it now," Cynthia stated angrily.

"But Queen Cynthia…" Cyrus responded.

Cynthia shut off the phone in fury. Cyrus looked at his commanders with a small smile.

"I love her when she's angry," he commented.

"So are we going to destroy it?" Saturn questioned.

"No, we're keeping it," Cyrus responded. "There are some places to sleep in the back. We're keeping this as our Kanto headquarters, and we're going to figure out from here how we're going to get that Adamant Orb off Queen Cynthia and use it for our brand new world."

* * *

Cynthia lay in bed that night with Lucian, enjoying themselves as usual. Lucian leaned in close, touching her delicately, as she squealed happily.

"Oh, Queen Cynthia, please promise me that you have no feelings for that Cyrus," Lucian said.

"I promise, Lucian… nothing but feelings of hate," Cynthia replied.

"Are you finally going to dispose of that Sabrina tomorrow?" Lucian asked.

"Yes, and that will finally be the end of her reign of terror," Cynthia responded. "Her life will come to an inglorious end, being swallowed up into a black hole inside of a prison cell. One nightmare for her will go into another."

"I sense that you are planning much more," Lucian commented.

"Once Sabrina is dead, we will destroy Celadon City, then move from there and destroy several other cities," Cynthia stated. "We will destroy Kanto, until they surrender. Perhaps I will be merciful once I've destroyed a few more, and leave a few of them to survive. That way I'll have some citizens to bow before me."

"And I sense your anger towards Giselle," Lucian added.

"She shall bow before me," Cynthia replied. "She and the Indigo Elite Four will all bow, as I take back my position as Champion of the Indigo League. That will happen once they realize that I plan on killing each and every person in Kanto unless they surrender to me."

"Why not have mercy now, give them a message and request them to surrender?" Lucian asked. "Then you'll have all the more people to bow before you."

"Oh, Lucian, you don't understand," Cynthia answered. "They still have resolve. Until I can break that resolve, they will refuse to bow – they'll be just like that Candice and Fantina. I broke their resolve, you see? Now they bow before me just like everyone else in Sinnoh."

"Just like me," Lucian added.

"Just like you," Cynthia replied.


	16. Blacked Out

Chapter 16

Blacked Out

The next day, Erika had called over all sorts of people to come to her wedding, which was to be held right at the Celadon Gym. Poor Will was helpless – stuck in dark mist, he could do nothing but wait for someone to rescue him… but that person was not coming.

_Liza!_ he thought angrily. _Where are you when I desperately need you?_

The ceremony went on, with Erika coming down the aisle in a lovely white kimono. Will stood there helplessly, only barely able to walk in the dark mist that surrounded him, as everyone watched Erika walk towards him.

She took his hand through the mist, and slowly the two walked together towards the altar. The judge then began going through the ceremony, even as Will looked for an escape.

It came time for the placing of the rings on hands of Erika and Will. Erika took the wedding band and began to place it on Will's finger, while he struggled in vain to avoid it.

"Once I put this on your finger, you are officially married to me," Erika told him.

But suddenly a Medicham appeared, punching Will to the ground and destroying the dark mist. Erika stood there in shock as a teenage girl appeared.

"Will's already married, in case you didn't know."

"To a murderer!" Erika shouted. "She's not fit to be his wife!"

"Love goes deeper than those prison walls, and you know it!"

Will struggled to get up from the ground after being punched so hard. "Liza, was that really necessary?" he asked.

Liza giggled. "Maybe, maybe not," she replied.

"Come on, let's go," he told her.

Liza called back her Medicham, and the two teleported away, leaving Erika in tears. People began walking out of the gym in a fury, greatly upset that Erika had tried to steal Will off another woman. The people that Erika invited to the wedding apparently had no idea that Erika was trying to marry a man who was already married.

"Wait! I can explain!" Erika shouted, as she was pushed over by a few people on their way out.

She dropped to the ground in embarrassment, as she watched everyone walk out of the building. She became hysterical as even the judge walked out, leaving her alone – with only the photographer remaining.

"All I wanted… was somebody who would be loyal," Erika muttered. "I was wrong to try to steal Will, I'm worse than a murderer."

"No, you're not."

Erika looked up to see the photographer, a boy by the name of Todd.

"I've long admired you, Lady Erika," Todd told her. "I felt a little jealous when I heard you were being married, but I came to take pictures of you anyway."

Erika gave Todd a small smile. "I'm no lady," she said.

"Yes, you are," Todd replied, holding out his hand. "Please, get up."

He helped Erika to her feet, and Erika simply collapsed into his arms, crying. He held her as she cried, trying to comfort her.

"Would you… help me restore myself?" Erika asked.

"I will," Todd replied.

* * *

With Sinnoh's gym leaders all set to attack Celadon City, Cynthia teleported to the Celadon prison, where she knew Sabrina was being held. As she walked into the building, a guard who recognized her tried to stop her, but she simply sucked the guard into a black hole and kept on walking. She found her way to Sabrina's prison cell, where she pushed the dark mist aside and teleported inside.

Sabrina felt helpless upon seeing her archrival appear in front of her. She was already in a great deal of emotional pain, but to see Cynthia stand before her, she felt complete despair. Was Cynthia about to kill her? Was it even worth trying to escape anymore?

"I ask one thing of you, murderer," Cynthia stated. "Drop to your knees and bow."

Sabrina had no choice. Fearing for her life, and hoping perhaps Cynthia may be merciful, she dropped to her knees before Cynthia and bowed her head. This gave Cynthia great satisfaction, as she smiled, before beginning to cackle. After all that occurred, finally, Sabrina was bowing before Cynthia.

"Now, I shall kill you, murderer," Cynthia stated.

"Please, Queen Cynthia," Sabrina pleaded. "I have a daughter to raise… for her sake, please show me mercy and allow me to live the rest of my life in this prison."

"No," Cynthia stated. "You shall die."

Cynthia began making a black hole with her hands. Sabrina tried teleporting away in vain, but it was no use – the prison cell was surrounded by dark mist, and she had no way of escaping. Within a minute, the black hole was large enough to swallow up Sabrina. The green-haired psychic thought about her daughter and Will as the black hole began to engulf her.

_Will… I love you and Roxette more than anything,_ Sabrina thought.

Then, in an instant, Sabrina disappeared. Cynthia began to cackle, with the knowledge that her archrival had been swallowed up in the black hole. In the very cell where she had suffered for so long, she now stood victorious against the woman who had caused her so much pain.

"So long, Sabrina," Cynthia said, before teleporting away.

* * *

Cynthia appeared outside, where she was genuinely surprised for a rare time. She saw Liza single-handedly defeating the Sinnoh trainers with her Medicham, Solrock and Baltoy. Will stood by, just watching the battle. He had offered to help Liza, but she refused his help, wanting to win the battle by herself – and she had.

"What is the matter with you?" Cynthia screamed at the Sinnoh trainers, who called back their Pokémon in shame. "Get out of my sight!"

The Sinnoh trainers quickly took off on the emergency Flying Pokémon that they brought (which had not been put into battle). They then flew off towards Sinnoh, leaving Cynthia to face Liza and Will.

"I am impressed with you," Cynthia told Liza. "You appear to be a worthy opponent to me."

"Are you that woman Sabrina's always complaining about?" Liza asked. "You call yourself queen or something?"

"I think you may want to bow," Cynthia replied. "Because I become very angry when people refuse to bow before me."

"What? You actually think I'll bow to you? There's no way I'll-"

Will grabbed Liza and pulled her to the ground, as he dropped to his knees himself and bowed.

"Queen Cynthia," he said, fully aware of Cynthia's powers, "please have mercy on us."

Cynthia smiled. "Very well, then, I shall spare this half of the Saffron family," she stated.

"Wait – what does that mean?" Will questioned.

"Your wife, Sabrina – she's dead," Cynthia responded.

"Dead? Where's her body? I don't believe you!"

"She was sucked into a black hole of mine," Cynthia stated. "You can look for her if you wish, but it's all in vain."

"Why, you-"

Will got up, thinking about attacking Cynthia, but she merely held out her finger and knocked him over with a dark attack.

"Please, I wish to show mercy today," Cynthia stated. "I advise you and all of your Kanto friends to simply bow and accept me as your queen, before I have to destroy any more cities."

Will felt frustrated, knowing he could not do anything against Cynthia. He simply began to cry.

"I have no time for this," Cynthia said. "You tell everyone you know that they will bow before me, or die."

She then teleported away, leaving Liza to comfort the crying Will.

* * *

"Why? Why did she have to kill her? Wasn't a life in prison enough?"

Will shared his frustration over Cynthia's murder with Sabrina's parents, as they mourned the death of their daughter.

"How is this baby going to grow up without a mother? How am I going to live without her? This just isn't fair!"

"Sabrina was a good girl," Mrs. Saffron said. "I know for sure she never meant to harm anyone – she was just controlled by that awful Mewtwo back then."

"And that's what I'm going to prove to everyone!" Will shouted. "If anything, she at least deserves to have her name cleared! She probably died thinking of herself as a murderer, while she really never was one! Oh, Sabrina, if you could only hear me right now… you were no murderer, you were completely innocent! I'll always love you…"

His words trailed off as he broke into tears. The three of them looked at Roxette, staring at her eyes.

"Don't those eyes remind you of Sabrina?" Mr. Saffron commented.

"They always will," Will replied. "Oh, Sabrina…"

* * *

The following day, Will brought the video evidence of Sabrina's actions before a judge, who offered to hear his case. The evidence, however, was not enough. The judge stated that Sabrina was still responsible for the death of Cynthia's parents, as the video could not prove that Sabrina was under the control of Mewtwo.

"But she was!" Will pleaded. "Please, you have to exonerate her… at least clear her name! All I want is to know for everyone to think of her as not a murderer, but an innocent woman who was controlled by an awful Pokémon and used by it in order to cause those murders."

"I'm sorry, but I just don't have the proof," the judge replied.

As Will was ready to leave the room in despair, he was interrupted by a man who came walking into the courtroom, a man who had heard about Will's case and had something to say about it. It was Professor Oak.

"Excuse me, may I say something about the case of Sabrina?" Professor Oak asked.

"What is it, professor?" the judge asked.

"According to my Pokémon research, the Pokémon Mewtwo is one of the strongest ever known to mankind," Professor Oak replied. "I have studied Pokémon long and hard, and none were ever as strong as him to be able to control another person's mind, even into causing that person to tell it what to do. A trainer of this Pokémon could be telling it what to do while not actually having any control over the decisions; it is in fact Mewtwo making the decisions, not the trainer."

The judge, who, like most people in Kanto, respected Professor Oak greatly, agreed with his case.

"I hereby exonerate Sabrina Saffron from any crime," he stated. "She was completely innocent."

Will breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he replied. He then hugged Professor Oak, who consoled him over his loss.

* * *

That night, Will lay in bed alone, missing Sabrina greatly. He could only cry, thinking all about her. She had truly loved him, unlike his first girlfriend, Karen. She was always there for him. Even as she teased him, she truly cared about him and always looked out for him.

And now, she was gone.

"Why, oh, why did Cynthia have to be so cruel?" Will wondered. "Sabrina, the whole Pokémon world heard on the news tonight that you were posthumously cleared of any wrongdoing. You were innocent! Cynthia had no right to kill you!"

He sniffed as he thought deeper about his past with Sabrina. He remembered meeting her, being so attracted to her that she called him out on it right away. He remembered her early fights with Team Rocket, and then their later battles, as she fought to stop Giovanni from running the Pokémon world. He remembered all the good times with her, and how he had saved her several times from Cynthia.

And now it was all for naught.

"Sabrina, if it's the last thing I do, I shall avenge your death," Will said. "I don't care what it takes, I will make sure that your death will be avenged with the death of Cynthia – and Lucian too, for that matter. And I'll raise Roxette to be a strong woman, just like you were. You were always the strong one in our relationship… you always were."

He began hysterically crying.

"Sabrina, you were always my rock, the one I could lean on," he continued. "What will I do now without you? I can't live without you. I can't… but I'll try… just for you, I'll try… I'll raise Roxette the way you wished for her to be raised… oh, Sabrina… what I would give just to hear your voice again… just to see your face again… just to touch your skin again…"

As Will cried, a beautiful woman miles and miles away simply smiled. She had finally gotten what she wanted.


	17. Rest in Peace

Chapter 17

Rest in Peace

Cyrus and his Team Galactic commanders began organizing things in their new temporary headquarters in Vermillion City, Lt. Surge's gym. They began training their Pokémon while Cyrus practiced using his powers. Clearly the four were planning something, but what exactly they were planning was still a mystery…

* * *

When Will woke up the next morning, all he could see is green. The green was a very familiar shade to him, and it seemed to be separated into strands. It suddenly came to him what he was seeing, so he tried rubbing his eyes, checking if he was truly awake.

"Come on, you haven't stroked my hair in a long time."

Will pushed away the green strands, revealing his wife Sabrina, who stood next to him, as she had placed her long hair over his eyes.

"Sabrina! You're alive!"

"Do you like my boots? I bought new ones just for you. Look, they have high heels…"

"Is this a dream? Sabrina, please let me know…"

Sabrina grabbed his face with her hands and planted a kiss on his lips. "Is that enough proof?" she asked.

"Sabrina, tell me what's going on here! How did you survive?" Will questioned.

"Cynthia tried swallowing me up in a black hole… but I thought about you and Roxette right as I was about to be sucked up, and I teleported far away… to the former Mt. Silver, the place of my last great victory," Sabrina explained.

"But how did you teleport away? I thought that jail was teleport-proof!" Will wondered.

"It was," Sabrina replied. "But I have a theory…"

She whispered something to Will.

"Don't tell anyone," she warned him.

"I promise, I won't," he replied. "I'm just so happy you're alive."

He reached out to touch her face, when she noticed the lack of a wedding ring on his hand.

"Will…"

"Sabrina, it's not what you think."

"Oh, I'm sure."

Sabrina stepped away from Will, leaving him searching for something to say.

"I like your boots…"

Sabrina then gave Will a small smile. "I know," she replied. "And it was _her_, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Will replied, reading Sabrina's mind that she meant Erika.

"I never thought my best friend would try to steal my husband from me," she told Will. "But as important as rings are to me…"

She held out her hand with her giant yellow-orange engagement ring.

"You mean more."

She then fell on to the bed on top of Will and began kissing him. There were so many unanswered questions the two of them had for each other, but for this moment, they did not matter. All the two wanted was to enjoy a romantic and intimate time together, which they did.

* * *

Karen, Bruno and Clair began mass calling the people who had signed up to be members of the newest incarnation of Team Rocket. The message related to them was that they were to meet in Goldenrod City for their first mission.

"Enough is enough, if the Pokémon League will not step in over the constant attacks by Sinnoh, Team Rocket will," Karen told one of the members, in a message consistent for all the calls. "We will launch a preemptive strike on the Sinnoh League headquarters, and stop them before they attack us again."

Silver told Jasmine about the call he received, making her quite nervous.

"Silver, I don't know if this is the right idea…" she said.

"Jasmine, the land of Kanto is crumbling to pieces! How many more cities must fall before we do something about it?" Silver asked.

"Oh, but it's dangerous…" Jasmine replied.

"Of course it is! But if we don't do something about it, we're going to see Kanto destroyed, and then Johto afterward," Silver explained.

Jasmine grabbed Silver's hands in fear.

"Please… protect me, Silver," she told him.

He held her close. "Don't worry, I'll make sure of it," he responded.

* * *

Sabrina and Will sat in bed, talking about what had happened recently in their time of separation.

"You were fired, all for the sake of freeing me," Sabrina stated. "It wasn't necessary, you know."

"Yes, it was," Will replied. "You had to be freed."

"No, you fool… that evidence didn't do a thing… it was only Professor Oak who got me free," Sabrina said with a laugh.

Will looked at Sabrina with wonder. "You sure are psychic," he told her.

"It's my specialty," she replied.

She then grabbed his hand. "So, Erika tried to force you to marry her?" she asked.

"Yes…" he sighed. "She also… kissed me."

Sabrina gasped, beginning to get up from the bed. "Wait! I can explain!" Will protested.

She then immediately sat back down. "Relax, Will, I know already," she told him. "Stop underestimating my psychic abilities."

"I'm sorry, Sabrina," Will replied. "I guess that's a little helpful that you're so much stronger as a psychic than me."

He then pointed at the boots which lay beside the bed.

"So, how did you get them?" he asked.

"I went shopping last night," she replied. "Relax, Will, we've still got the money. And don't worry, I'll get your job back for you."

"How?" Will asked.

"I told you not to worry, okay?" she responded. "I've got everything under control."

"But Sabrina, Cynthia's pushed us around over and over again, and nearly killed you on several occasions," Will protested. "She's destroying this land city by city. We're helpless and hopeless."

Sabrina gave Will a cold stare. He stared into her deep purple eyes, trying to figure out what she meant.

"I will personally put a stop to Cynthia's reign," she told him sternly. "My power is growing, and soon enough I will be able to match up with her evenly. And when I get the opportunity, I will make sure she is stopped. And…"

She smiled sneakily at Will.

"I'll make _her_ call _me_ queen," she said.

"Queen Sabrina," Will said.

"Ooh… I like the sound of that. Say it again, like you mean it," Sabrina replied.

"Queen Sabrina," Will said again, staring into her eyes again.

She then grabbed his face and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Please, just tell me one thing," Will asked her, "why didn't you come back right away? I was so worried about you!"

"I know," Sabrina responded. "I wanted to make sure Cynthia was gone before I reappeared, and I needed you to prove my innocence to the judge. Plus…"

She giggled a bit.

"I wanted to make you sweat it out."

Will slammed his hand against the bed angrily. "How could you do that to me – and to Liza – and to your parents?" he asked. "How?"

"Oh, relax, Will," she said. "If I had known how upset it would make you, I wouldn't have stayed away for so long. But isn't it good to know that your wife isn't a murderer?"

"I always knew you weren't," Will replied.

The two of them kissed once again, enjoying every moment of their time together.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cynthia was well aware of the fact that Sabrina was alive. Sabrina had been able to hide her survival from Cynthia for a short time, but Cynthia was eventually able to sense Sabrina's presence. She was greatly disappointed, but she received some satisfaction from the fact that Sabrina had bowed before her. As she sat on her throne, she kept thinking of the image of the hopeless Sabrina on her knees before her, begging for mercy. And she knew that still she had her position as queen, while Sabrina was a mere citizen of Kanto – a land which she hoped to destroy, or rule over.

* * *

The following day, Sabrina and Will went to the Fighting Dojo, telling Kiyo that his time as Saffron City gym leader was short-lived, as Sabrina was taking back her position. Kiyo, however, was indignant.

"Why do you think you're getting my position? You gave it to me, and I'm not giving it back!" he protested.

"You know, the original gym leader retains the right to win back their gym at any time by winning a Pokémon battle," Sabrina said. "If you wish, we can battle-"

"No!" Kiyo shouted. "Oh, fine, you may have your position again. I don't want to be embarrassed again."

Sabrina smiled. "Thank you, Kiyo," she told him. "Someday perhaps you and your fighters will be respected… maybe."

Kiyo bristled at Sabrina's remark as she walked out of the Fighting Dojo with Will.

"What is with those psychics, with their air of superiority?" he whined. "I don't know why they think they're so much better than us."

"Well, they are…" a fighter in the gym suggested.

"Shut up!" Kiyo yelled. "Someday, I vow to gain the leadership position back… but not today."

* * *

Sabrina then accompanied Will to the Silph Company building. The two had a discussion with the president of the Silph Company, telling him about how Will had thought he needed the evidence to prove Sabrina's innocence. The president was very understanding of the situation, and he agreed to allow Will to have his position back as vice-president of the company. Since he respected Sabrina greatly, as did all the citizens of Saffron, he decided to be merciful to Will in this situation.

* * *

The final order of business for Sabrina and Will was to recover Will's wedding band. They visited Erika, who was with Todd at the time. They noticed immediately that the old Erika had returned.

"I'm so, so sorry, Sabrina," Erika told her friend. "I totally went overboard. You really were no murderer."

She then pulled out Will's wedding band from her pocket.

"Sabrina, I did the worst thing someone could ever do their best friend," she said. "I tried stealing your husband. I am no longer worthy of being called a lady, or even your friend. Please, take Will's wedding band back, and at least do not take revenge on me… I'm so sorry, I can't apologize enough."

Sabrina smiled as she took the band from Erika and handed it to Will. "Lady Erika, I forgive you," she replied.

"No, you can't," Erika told Sabrina. "I am not deserving of your forgiveness."

Erika dropped to her knees and bowed before Sabrina.

"Please, this is not necessary, Lady Erika," Sabrina told Erika.

"Yes, it is," Erika responded. "If you insist on calling me Lady, I insist on calling you Queen… Queen Sabrina."

Sabrina smiled upon hearing that title. As much as she did not want Erika to feel so awful, she loved hearing herself being called a queen.

"I, as Queen Sabrina, accept your apology," Sabrina told Erika. "I request for you to rise."

Erika rose to her feet, and then the two hugged each other. "Please, meet my new boyfriend, Todd," Erika said. "He's a photographer."

After Todd introduced himself to the psychic couple, Erika made tea for the three of them, and the four of them enjoyed a nice talk together.

And with that, everything momentarily was solved. Sabrina was still alive, Will's job was back, Sabrina's gym position was back, Will's wedding band was returned, and Sabrina and Erika's friendship was restored. All was well in Saffron and Celadon again, and there was momentary peace in this portion of Kanto.

The nagging question for them, as well as the rest of Kanto, was – how long would it last?


	18. Rocket Man

Chapter 18

Rocket Man

The Pokémon League called a meeting to talk about how the disaster that had occurred recently due to Sinnoh's attacks on Kanto soil. Charles Goodshow brought the Elite Four and its champion together, but it was very clear that only four of those five cared about what was taking place.

"Oh, so what?" Giselle asked. "How does this affect me as champion?"

"If these attacks keep going, you won't be champion of anything!" Goodshow exclaimed.

"What are we supposed to do? I bet you can't think of anything!" Giselle snapped.

"That's what we're here to talk about," Lance stated. "We need to come up with a way to stop Sinnoh from continuing these attacks."

"And we've seen firsthand exactly how powerful Cynthia is," Lorelei commented. "This won't be easy."

"Are you that silly?" Giselle asked. "Let me battle Cynthia, one-on-one, I'll beat her!"

Joe suddenly looked nervous. "No, Giselle, that's not a good idea," he said. "We need a bunch of trainers to battle her, like last time… that was the only way she was defeated."

"Well, what about that whole Team Rocket thing? They've got a lot of trainers going up against Cynthia?" Giselle asked.

"You actually expect Karen and her crazy plan to succeed?" Agatha asked. "This Team Rocket idea of hers will fail miserably."

* * *

Karen met with a group of about 100 trainers at Goldenrod City, including Silver, Jasmine, Gold and Whitney. She spoke to them while flanked by her executives Bruno and Clair.

"Today we take control back of the Pokémon world!" she announced. "We announce that we, as the Indigo League, will not be pushed around by a so-called queen and her Sinnoh lackeys. We will fight for liberty and freedom as Team Rocket! We will 'Riot, or Cynthia kills every trainer'!"

The trainers cheered as Karen smiled sneakily.

"I am your leader… all responsibility for this attack, good or bad, falls on me!" she continued. "Remember that well – if we defeat Sinnoh today, you have me to thank! And if we fail, we go down with myself as the biggest failure. But we aren't going to fail! We're going to win!"

The trainers cheered again. Karen gave a small chuckle.

"Now, what we're going to do is circumvent that queen," she explained. "Cynthia expects us to attack her, because after all she is the leader of their plans. But we aren't going to do that, we're simply going to throw the land of Sinnoh into fear. We will take their gym leaders hostage. It is your goal to bring all eight gym leaders of Sinnoh here to Goldenrod City, where they will be placed in prison. Once that occurs, the land of Sinnoh will turn on their queen and no longer accept her. Then we'll have all the people we need to take her down. Is this understood?"

"Yes!" many of the trainers screamed.

"Let's do it!" Karen yelled. "Go, go, go, go, go!"

The trainers began jumping on Flying Pokémon that Karen, Bruno and Clair had captured especially for this mission, and they took off towards Sinnoh. Before taking off, Silver took one long look at Karen, wondering what exactly she was up to.

* * *

Sabrina and Will were lying in bed that morning, refusing to get up and go anywhere. Roxette was sleeping peacefully, so they decided to enjoy an intimate time together.

"Sabrina, did anyone ever realize exactly how beautiful you are?" Will asked.

"Of course," Sabrina replied. "It was you."

Will smiled, then reached for his mask and took it off.

"For your eyes only," he told her.

They went into a long kiss with each other.

"You know, I wonder what's going on with that Team Rocket… they said they were going to attack Sinnoh today," Will commented.

"Let's not worry about that," Sabrina told Will. "Let's just enjoy… each other."

The two lovers continued their romance, not caring about what was about to occur off in the land of Sinnoh.

* * *

The eight gym leaders gathered in front of Cynthia, who snapped her fingers. All of them dropped to their knees and bowed, although Candice did so reluctantly.

"Today, I have a very special mission for all of you," Cynthia told them.

"What is it, Queen Cynthia?" Byron asked.

"You are to stay here and protect me from any attacks," Cynthia replied. "I have heard that Team Rocket plans on trying to kidnap me."

"That's terrible!" Roark exclaimed. "We will defend you, Queen Cynthia!"

Candice looked over at Roark in surprise. _Why would Cynthia need to be defended?_ she thought.

"You may be wondering why I may need to be defended, as after all, I am extremely powerful," Cynthia said, reading Candice's mind while boasting at the same time. "It is because the attacks you see today will be like none you've ever seen before. It will be a life-and-death struggle if I get involved, but with your help, I'm sure we can easily defeat them."

"We will defend you to the death, Queen Cynthia!" Gardenia exclaimed.

Candice simply shook her head. _Surely they don't believe that Cynthia's so vulnerable, do they?_ she thought. _This is a trap._

"Now I wish for you to stay here until they arrive," Cynthia stated.

* * *

About a half-hour later, the Team Rocket trainers began to arrive. Among them were Ash Ketchum and Fuchsia City gym leader A.J.

"This is an important mission, for all our land," A.J. announced. "Karen told me that I must take command while she stays back in Goldenrod."

"Wait a minute, she didn't come?" Silver questioned in exasperation.

"She says she has some important business to take care of with her executive Bruno," A.J. stated. "While she's back there, we have to take charge of this mission. Is that understood?"

Silver grumbled to himself while Jasmine patted him on the shoulder.

"Let's go!" A.J. yelled. "Into the castle!"

The Team Rocket trainers, led by A.J. and Ash, began storming the Sinnoh League headquarters.

* * *

_They're coming, _Cynthia thought. _Such a shame._

The eight gym leaders stood in front of Cynthia's throne, when suddenly they were approached by a large bunch of Pokémon, being rapidly thrown out of their Poké Balls by the Team Rocket trainers.

"Get 'em, Sandshrew!" A.J. shouted.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash yelled.

The Sinnoh trainers tried responding, but their case was utterly hopeless. They were overcome in just about five minutes, and each of them had all of their Pokémon faint. Then some of the Team Rocket trainers' stronger Pokémon, such as Silver's Sneasel and Gold's Typhlosion, began rounding up the Sinnoh gym leaders and carrying them out of the castle.

"Queen Cynthia! Help us!" Candice cried.

Cynthia simply sat on her throne and smiled, watching the Sinnoh gym leaders being taken away.

* * *

The Sinnoh gym leaders were taken into the Goldenrod City prison. Candice pleaded to the officers in vain, telling them that she had been forced into attacking Kanto.

"See these scars on my face?" Candice asked. "They're from rebelling against Cynthia. She attacked me for disobeying her! And Volkner and Fantina are with me… we didn't want to do it, honest. Trust me about this, please!"

"Sorry," Officer Jenny told her. "You were an accomplice with them, and that's enough."

"This isn't fair!" Candice complained.

She was then locked away in a prison cell with Fantina.

"Fantina, we fought against Cynthia, and look what happened," Candice said. "And then we fought with her, and she refused to defend her. What kind of queen is she?"

Fantina simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, she's not a very good one, that's for sure," Candice added.

"_Non,"_ Fantina agreed.

_Oh, Volkner, rescue me,_ Candice thought.

* * *

Later that day, Sabrina and Will turned on the television to hear shocking reports.

"Today Team Rocket captured all eight Sinnoh gym leaders and arrested them for their dastardly deeds around Kanto," the television broadcaster said. "The leader of Team Rocket also has a message for the queen of Sinnoh."

A prerecorded clip of Karen speaking came on the screen.

"It's your move, Cynthia," Karen said. "The reason your gym leaders are in prison is because of you and solely you. If you do not surrender yourself to arrest, we will keep these Sinnoh gym leaders in prison until you do. Also let it be known throughout Sinnoh that your queen had an opportunity to stop her gym leaders from being taken away, and she did nothing about it. I call upon the people of Sinnoh to rebel against your queen and take back your freedom!"

Sabrina turned to Will. "Is this seriously the best way of going about this?" she asked. "Most likely Cynthia's just going to take revenge on us… I'm worried about this."

"Don't worry, I bet Karen has everything under control," Will commented. "She's pretty smart, you know."

Sabrina bristled at Will's remark. "You still love her, don't you?" she yelled at him. "That's why you talk about her like that!"

"Oh, come on, Sabrina, don't be ridiculous!" Will replied. "I just think that she's smart, that's all. She's not a terrible person."

"You still hold feelings for her, that's what I think!" Sabrina exclaimed. "You won't admit it, but I can read your emotions… you feel something for her."

"I think your reading ability is off, Sabrina," Will said. "You're letting your own emotions cloud your own abilities. I certainly hold no feelings for Karen anymore."

Sabrina just crossed her arms and stared at Will. "I don't ever want you to say her name again," she commanded him.

"Karen?" Will said playfully.

"Shut up!" Sabrina shouted. "Maybe I'll just say nice things about my past love to you."

"You never had a love before me," Will stated. "Don't lie to me."

Sabrina looked deep in thought. "That's what you think."

Will tried in vain to read Sabrina's mind, but he could not.

"Oh, come on, who are you talking about?" he asked.

Sabrina giggled. "Now I've got you thinking," she laughed. "But I'm not telling."

"Is it someone I know?" Will asked.

"Perhaps…" Sabrina said.

"What's this 'perhaps'? Just tell me!" Will exclaimed.

Sabrina just kept laughing, making Will upset.

"Come on, you've got to tell me!" he shouted. "I've told you about Karen, you have to tell me about this guy of yours."

Sabrina looked thoughtful. "Maybe I will…" she stated. "But I want you to ask me in the right way."

"Please, Sabrina," Will pleaded.

"You forgot something," Sabrina said.

Will rolled his eyes. "Please, _Queen_ Sabrina," he said.

"Very well, then," Sabrina stated, teleporting close to him. "But it's a secret… no telling Liza."

She began to tell Will her greatest secret.


	19. Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 19

Dirty Little Secret

Sabrina sat next to Will on their couch, as Will looked at her anxiously, waiting to hear what she had to say. She smiled, knowing she had his complete attention.

"This all happened back in March of 2005," she told him.

"Four years ago?" Will asked.

"Yes, right around this time of year," Sabrina said. "I was no longer controlled by the doll, so I had complete control over my own actions. And I was training in my gym…"

* * *

(March 2005)

Sabrina sat on her throne in her gym, waiting for a challenger. She had conquered every single opponent of hers during the last few months using only her Alakazam, and she was longing for an opponent to give her some sort of challenge. After all, it would not do her any good for the Pokémon League tournament if she didn't get an actual challenge.

"Sabrina," a gym assistant told her. "We have a challenger for you."

Sabrina glared at the assistant. "Does he have the proper qualifications?" she asked.

"He has defeated every single one of us in this gym," the assistant replied. "He seems to be a worthy opponent."

"How badly does he want this badge?" Sabrina questioned.

"How am I supposed to know?" the assistant responded. "All I know is that he says he is two badges away from reaching the Pokémon League."

"Bring him to me – alone," Sabrina stated.

The assistant left the room, coming back with the boy, who was wearing a blue sweatshirt with a yin-yang necklace around his neck. He looked quite confident upon walking into the room.

"Hmph! This gym isn't much so far!" he said. "Are you any better?"

"I'm Sabrina, gym leader of Saffron City," Sabrina stated. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gary Oak from Pallet Town, and I have six badges so far… I merely need two more in order to reach the Pokémon League," Gary replied.

"So you seem like a worthy opponent," Sabrina said. "Fine, then, a three-on-three battle will do."

"Okay, that's fine with me," Gary said.

* * *

"I don't really care about the actual battle itself, Sabrina – just tell me who won," Will stated. "Come on, cut to the chase."

"But I have to mention part of the battle – it's very important," Sabrina replied.

"Oh, go ahead then," Will said.

* * *

(March 2005)

The battle came down to each trainer's final Pokémon. Sabrina had chosen to use her weaker Abra and Mr. Mime early on in the battle, and they held their ground for a while, until Gary sent out his Nidoking. Once he did, Sabrina sent out her Alakazam, and it was a one-on-one battle for the badge. Alakazam utterly dominated the battle, and Nidoking was ready to faint. Gary left his Pokémon out there to take the ongoing abuse, at first not caring how bad it was getting beaten up psychically.

"This battle's over, Oak, face it," Sabrina stated.

Gary watched Nidoking in vain, beginning to get concerned as he saw hurt it was becoming. Finally, as Nidoking was thrown by another psychic attack, Gary tried calling it back into its Poké Ball, but for some reason the Poké Ball failed to work. Instead Nidoking came tumbling backward – right down upon Gary!

"Wait! Stop!" he cried, before being crushed by his Pokémon.

Sabrina immediately called for Alakazam to stop, then teleported to Gary to see how he was. After having Alakazam push Nidoking off him, she noticed that he looked dazed.

"Gary? Are you okay?" she asked him.

Gary just stared at Sabrina with a strange smile. "I must have died and gone to heaven," he said. "You must be an angel… tell me your name."

"Gary, I'm Sabrina, the gym leader you just battled," Sabrina stated. "Snap out of it."

"Sabrina… what a beautiful name," Gary said. "You're so gorgeous."

Sabrina looked at Gary with a bit of surprise. No boy had ever told her that she was beautiful before – all of them were too scared of her. She knew the best thing was to try to give him some sort of medical help, but she also wanted to continue to live out a possible fantasy of having a boy head over heels in love with her.

"Let me help you up," she told him, and she lifted the injured trainer to his feet.

"You wear boots… oh, aren't they perfect on you!" Gary exclaimed.

Sabrina smiled warmly, loving to hear someone compliment her looks for once. It had never happened before to her by a boy… this felt very special.

"Please, my angel Sabrina, just kiss me and I'll feel all better," Gary stated.

Sabrina stared at him. She did not want to kiss him… she wanted to reserve her lips for someone special. She had resolved that she would only kiss a boy whom she truly loved.

"Silly boy, I'm not going to kiss you," she replied. "Perhaps you do need to snap out of this now."

"Oh, but Sabrina, you're so beautiful…" Gary continued.

He hugged her warmly, then called back his Pokémon into its Poké Ball.

"Please… do you think you would go out with me?" he asked her.

Sabrina knew this was not the right thing to do. This boy could have a girlfriend, for all she knew, but she loved being treated like this, even if he didn't really mean it.

"Our relationship must remain secret," she told Gary. "You may come back here and visit here and pretend to battle me… then we can talk with each other."

"Oh, thank you, Sabrina," Gary replied.

* * *

"Wait a minute, you offered to go out with a boy who was suffering through amnesia?" Will asked. "That's just wrong!"

"It wasn't total amnesia," Sabrina replied. "Not long after that, he remembered everything about himself, but he kept coming back to see me, every day, and he was completely enamored with me. He told the assistants of the gym that he was challenging me in a rematch, and they allowed us to be alone… but we just sat together and talked."

Will looked down, seeming to be upset.

"Don't worry, I never kissed him," she told him, reading his thoughts.

Will breathed a sigh of relief as Sabrina chuckled. "So it was that important for my first kiss to be with you?" she asked him.

He nodded his head.

"Then you can rest easy, because I never kissed anyone before I kissed you," she stated.

"So, how long did your relationship with Mr. Oak last?" Will asked.

"About two months," Sabrina replied. "Then, something happened to ruin everything…"

* * *

(May 2005)

"I love you so much, Sabrina," Gary stated. "Please, let's kiss."

"Gary, I told you I'm not going to kiss anyone until I'm absolutely sure I love them," Sabrina replied. "And we've only been going out two months."

Gary looked a bit upset. "Then how about a Pokémon battle?" he asked. "If I win, I get the Marsh Badge _and_ you kiss me."

Sabrina thought about it for a moment, then obliged to a battle. The two went at it for about an hour, with Sabrina letting up easy on him; she wanted to lose in order to have an excuse to kiss him. However, as much as she tried, her Alakazam was just too powerful, and it came down to Alakazam against Nidoking again. Nidoking did all it could, but Alakazam was just too much, and he threw Nidoking psychically one last time, crashing him into the wall. Gary ran over to Nidoking to see if it was all right, but as he did, he tripped on the ground, falling and hitting his head.

Sabrina rushed over to her fallen boyfriend. "Gary? Gary? Speak to me!" she shouted.

Gary looked up at her. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Sabrina, your girlfriend," Sabrina replied.

"Girlfriend?" Gary asked. "I'm pretty sure I don't have a girlfriend… hey, wait a minute… I was battling you for the Marsh Badge!"

"You lost," Sabrina said coldly.

"Rats," Gary replied. "I guess I'll try again some other time."

He retrieved his Nidoking, then began to walk out of the battle room. Sabrina's heart beat fast as she saw him walk away. Wasn't he going to stay with her? Wasn't he her boyfriend?

"Gary!" Sabrina shouted. "I'll kiss you!"

Gary looked astonished. "Kiss me?" he questioned. "Um… I don't think that's a good idea."

He continued to walk away. "Gary, what's the matter?" she asked. "Am I not your angel? Am I not attractive to you?"

Gary tried not to answer her, but she held him back psychically from walking out the door.

"Gary, you're not leaving here until you tell me your true feelings about me," she stated.

"Am I allowed to be honest?" he asked.

Sabrina sighed. "Yes," she said.

"I'm so sorry, but I'm not attracted to you," Gary replied. "You're just not my type."

Sabrina stood very still, as she felt a rush of emotions go through her. It was almost as if the world was crashing down upon her. She felt absolutely stunned.

"I'm sorry," Gary said.

Sabrina hid her face from him, trying not to cry in front of him. It was not Gary's fault; it was her own. She decided to allow herself to live a lie, allow herself to be fooled by a boy suffering through amnesia. He had never loved her; he never had a choice.

"You may leave," she stated sadly.

He then walked out the door, which Sabrina closed behind him. She then fell to her knees and began to cry. She had always wondered what it felt like to have her heart broken. She always thought it would be worth the risk, just to have a boy finally care about her. And now, she regretted ever thinking that way.

"No boy will ever be attracted to me… I'm just too weird for them," she cried.

* * *

"Have you ever seen Gary since?" Will asked his wife.

"A few times," Sabrina stated. "When I was under the control of Team Rocket, I believe I attacked him and his girlfriend. I've seen him at Pokémon League tournaments, and as well as at our wedding. But he apparently has no memory of our relationship."

"That's a good thing," Will said. "I want to be the only one with feelings for you."

"Don't worry, you are," Sabrina replied. "But now you know why I fell so in love with you when I realized you were attracted to me… no other boy ever was."

"That's a little hard to believe," Will commented. "You're so beautiful… boys should have been lining up to go out with you."

"I think I scared them off with what happened for years, turning people into dolls," Sabrina responded. "But don't worry, I never kissed anyone besides you, and I know that's what you're concerned about."

Will breathed a sigh of relief. "So that was it?" he asked. "There was never any other boy who showed any interest in you?"

"Well, there was that one computer guy…" Sabrina began to say.

Will's eyes grew big. "Don't tell me, there was someone else!" he exclaimed.

"He was a guy who worked for Team Rocket for a short amount of time," Sabrina said. "And yes, he tried to kiss me."

"What was his name?" Will asked. "I'll kill him!"

"Oh, come on, Will, it's not that serious," Sabrina replied. "His name was Bill… and he never kissed me. He tried getting me close by talking to me about my Alakazam… who knows where he is now."

"I don't like this Bill already," Will said.

"Relax, Will, it doesn't matter anymore… I only love you," Sabrina told him.

The two of them then shared a long, passionate kiss.

But even while they enjoyed their time of romance together, miles and miles away a woman of great power was planning their ultimate destruction…


	20. Deal or No Deal

Chapter 20

Deal or No Deal

A few days later, the Sinnoh gym leaders were still sitting in jail, and Cynthia had not yet lifted a muscle to help them. This began to frustrate the people of Sinnoh, who thought that their queen would instantly rush to help the gym leaders of their towns.

However, their anger did no good, as Cynthia just sat on her throne, enjoying her time as queen. She had no intention of rescuing the Sinnoh gym leaders… yet.

She snapped her fingers. Lucian immediately knelt before her and bowed.

"My dear Lucian," she said. "I wish for you to be very careful in these coming days… your life will be threatened."

"My life, Queen Cynthia?" Lucian asked. "Why mine, and not yours?"

"I feel that there is someone planning your fall," Cynthia replied. "I just wish for you to be safe."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

* * *

Karen was increasingly frustrated over the fact that Cynthia was not doing anything about the Sinnoh gym leaders' capture. Was Cynthia too scared to attack a group of 100 or so trainers? Or was she planning something different? Either way, she wondered why the Sinnoh people had not yet rioted against Cynthia.

"Apparently we have not done enough," she told her executives Bruno and Clair. "Cynthia has not fallen for our trap."

"It's like I said," Bruno replied, "we've got to go all out and attack her personally."

"But we've stopped the attacks on our land for now," Clair commented. "That's a positive."

"I'm sure they aren't done for good, until Cynthia is under our custody," Karen replied. "Our next goal must not be to attack her personally, but to go into Sinnoh and start riots against Cynthia. We need to expand Team Rocket into Sinnoh before we attack her personally."

* * *

Cyrus called a mysterious woman from his new base in Vermillion City. This woman, he felt, was the ultimate piece of the puzzle to complete his plan.

"I am offering you one of the few spots in our new world," Cyrus told the woman. "You accomplish what I want, and you will receive something only the very few will get – the chance to live."

"Whatever, Cyrus, I just expect a big payment," the woman replied. "If you don't have the sufficient funds, then I can't help you."

"If that is what you want, I have plenty of that," Cyrus said, reaching into a drawer of a desk in the gym, finding a bunch of money. "We sort of backed into a whole lot of that."

"It doesn't sound like you're very serious about paying me," the woman responded. "Is this a prank?"

"I'm being completely honest about this," Cyrus said. "You kill him, and I'll give you the full payment. You get somewhat less if you fail to kill him but merely capture him."

"I'll make sure he dies," the woman answered.

* * *

"Why isn't Queen Cynthia coming to rescue us?" Volkner asked his fellow prisoner, Crasher Wake.

"I can't ever figure her out," Wake responded.

"You know, I've been suspicious of her for a while, and this is yet another sign that she's not really committed to helping us out… she's just after her own interests," Volkner said.

"But why wouldn't she care about us? We're the ones who have helped her out the most," Wake commented.

"The worst part is, we're taking the fall for what she forced us to do," Volkner stated.

* * *

The woman who Cyrus hired brushed her hand through her short silver hair as she approached the Sinnoh League headquarters building. She had one mission: to kill Lucian.

However, trying to kill him with his and Cynthia's very strong psychic powers figuring out her every move proved to be difficult. It was not possible to simply shoot him with a gun; she realized that Cynthia was powerful enough to know when a gun was fired, and when to stop it.

So she had to go about it with alternative methods. This included the use of many dark Pokémon, for the sole purpose of lowering her opponents' psychic abilities. She sent out an Umbreon and a Murkrow, who created a dark mist through the air. She then stepped inside the building, clouded in mist.

She began sneaking through the building, hoping to find where Lucian was staying. It did not take her long, because her dark Pokémon could sense where the psychic was at, sitting in his room, reading a book. They snuck through the building together, finally closing in on his door.

"I have him," she whispered into a headset of hers.

* * *

Ritchie and Violet inspected the damage on Cinnabar Island. It was incredibly devastating; the only building left standing was the Pokémon Center. The island was creepily silent, from the lack of living beings remaining on it. Ritchie broke down and cried, with his girlfriend trying to comfort him in the best way she could.

"Like, there's still a Pokémon Center at least," she said.

They then gathered whatever items had survived the eruption in the Pokémon Center and left the island.

* * *

"Queen Cynthia! Save me!"

"It's too late for you."

Lucian found himself trapped in a ball of dark energy, created by Umbreon and Murkrow. Before him stood Hunter J, the woman hired to kill or capture Lucian by Cyrus.

"Now, you shall die."

"Wait a moment," a voice said.

The voice was of Cyrus. He had teleported from Vermillion City, and he smiled at his victim.

"Before you kill him, why not let me have some fun?" Cyrus asked. "All we need is Queen Cynthia to arrive… isn't it a shame that your queen isn't here to rescue you, boy?"

Lucian sat inside the ball of energy helplessly, hoping for his wife to arrive. A minute later, she finally did.

"Cyrus… Hunter J…" Cynthia stated. "It's a pleasure to see the both of you."

Lucian looked on as Cynthia said these words to his captors.

"Queen Cynthia," Cyrus said. "It appears your hopeless lover is in trouble, and he's about to die. With my command, Hunter J will release all the pressure of the dark energy on him and crush him."

Cynthia simply smiled. She showed no concern towards Lucian, nor any anger towards his captors.

"Now, Queen Cynthia, you and I are going to engage in a long, passionate kiss… or Lucian dies," Cyrus stated.

Cynthia reached out her arms towards Cyrus.

"Just remember, even if you decide to attack Hunter J or me, Lucian will die first, and you'll receive nothing," Cyrus explained.

Cynthia continued reaching out, then put her arms around Cyrus's neck. She then opened her mouth and began to kiss him passionately. The two of them mutually enjoyed the kiss, while Lucian sat inside the dark energy ball, crying as he watched the kiss.

"I love you, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus stated. "Now, please remove that wedding band of yours and throw it away… you are to divorce Lucian right here and now."

Cynthia looked over at Lucian, who looked to be pleading for her not to go along with Cyrus's plan. She then stared at Cyrus, reached out her hand and ripped off the ring, letting it drop to the ground.

"Thank you, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus said.

Lucian became hysterical. "Why, Queen Cynthia, why?" he begged.

"Shut him up!" Cyrus yelled. "He's of no use to Queen Cynthia anymore, anyway. Just kill him, Hunter J."

Cynthia grabbed Cyrus by the throat. "If he dies, so do you," she stated. "Then _you'll_ receive nothing."

Cyrus gulped. "Yes, Queen Cynthia," he replied.

As she loosened her grip from his throat, he grabbed her hand. "Now that you aren't married to him anymore, why don't we-"

"No," Cynthia stated. "I am still queen, and you still obey me."

"How about if you don't, we kill Lucian anyway?" Cyrus asked.

"How about if you do, I kill the both of you?" Cynthia replied.

Cyrus smirked. "How about you do kill me… after one nice, passionate night together," he said. "That would be worth it."

"Very well, then," Cynthia said, with Lucian gasping in horror. "You and I, tonight… then you die tomorrow morning. Oh, and Lucian survives."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Cyrus shouted.

"What does it matter to a dead man whether Lucian lives or dies?" Cynthia asked. "I'll be kind and allow Hunter J to live."

"How about we switch Hunter J's life and mine… you kill her, but let me live?" Cyrus asked, with Hunter J gasping.

"Sorry, that's out of the question," Cynthia said coldly. "Come on, let's get ready."

* * *

That night, with Lucian still sitting inside the ball of darkness, being guarded by Hunter J, Cynthia took Cyrus into a room she had never used before. Inside it was merely a bed, but that was enough for the two of them.

Cynthia was dressed in black lingerie, and she kissed Cyrus as the two of them lied down on the bed. The two of them continued passionately kissing as they began to get more and more intimate.

"You've always loved me, haven't you?" Cyrus asked.

"Why would you ask that?" Cynthia questioned.

"You seem to be enjoying this a lot," Cyrus replied, squeezing an extremely delicate portion of her body.

Cynthia squealed happily. "Yes, I do enjoy it," she said. "But remember, you're still dying tomorrow morning."

"Forget about tomorrow morning, let's just enjoy tonight," Cyrus said.

As the night continued, both Cynthia and Cyrus greatly enjoyed their time together, with Cynthia confident that Cyrus would be dead the following morning, and Cyrus confident for some other mysterious reason.

* * *

"How you could do this to me, Queen Cynthia? How could you?"

"Shut up!" Hunter J yelled.

"Did we walk down the aisle for nothing? Was our marriage all for naught? Did you never mean those vows?"

"Be quiet!" Hunter J screamed.

"Why? Why would you choose Cyrus over me? What does he have to offer that I don't? Is it my appearance? Am I not attractive enough to you?"

"Stop talking or I'll kill you!" Hunter J shouted.

Hunter J was only threatening, however, as she knew that if she killed Lucian, Cynthia would most certainly take revenge on her.

"Do you understand Queen Cynthia's motives? Can you tell me why she did this?" Lucian asked Hunter J.

"Maybe she wanted to preserve your life, as if it means anything," Hunter J replied. "She made a deal with Cyrus to kill him and allow you to survive… maybe she loves you after all."

Lucian simply stared at Cynthia's wedding band, which lay on the ground near Hunter J's feet. "If she truly loved me… she would have stopped this before it happened."

* * *

It was the next morning. Cynthia and Cyrus sat together in bed, with Cynthia looking over at the clock. The time read 6:16 am.

"Fourteen minutes until your death," Cynthia said. "Would you like to have one last kiss?"

"Sure," Cyrus replied.

The two began kissing passionately. All the time, Cynthia kept an eye on the clock. Cyrus was gasping for air as the kiss continued past five minutes, but he refused to break away. The clock ticked closer and closer toward 6:30, and Cynthia watched every second of it. She began building a ball of dark energy with one of her hands, ready to engulf Cyrus in it as soon as the minute hand hit the 6. Cyrus, in the meantime, kept kissing, not wanting the moment to end. Finally, the second hand came around, toward the 12, and the minute hand crawled toward the 6. And finally… it was 6:30.

"So long, Cyrus," Cynthia stated.

As she said this, she pushed all her dark power into one huge ball of energy and launched it at the very man who had spent the past night with her. And despite the fact that she had enjoyed every second of her romance with him, she was satisfied to see him die. She then sucked the dark energy ball into a black hole, and it was all gone. Afterwards, she put her normal clothes back on and walked out of the room, going to see Lucian.

When she arrived in the room where Lucian had been held, she was shocked to see that the dark energy ball that had been holding him was empty. Hunter J was nowhere to be found. She reached down to the floor, picked up her wedding band and placed it on her ring finger again. She looked over again, seeing that Lucian was gone, then sighed.

"Lucian… I'm sorry."


	21. Pain and a Princess

Chapter 21

Pain and a Princess

Cynthia began using her extreme psychic powers to try to find Lucian's location. She could sense his presence from miles away under ordinary circumstances, but not this time.

_Where are you, Lucian?_ she wondered.

She then went back inside her room, when she noticed something peculiar: the Adamant Orb was gone.

_Cyrus!_ she thought angrily. _He escaped anyway!_

She immediately teleported away to Mt. Coronet, knowing that was where she would find Cyrus. What she found when she got there was quite a shock.

"Lucian!"

Lucian was engaged in a kiss with Hunter J, even while Cyrus was preparing to activate the Adamant Orb and set his new world into motion. Cynthia completely ignored Cyrus and yelled at Lucian.

"Lucian, I can't believe you'd do something like this!" she screamed. "Don't you love me?"

Lucian pulled away from the kiss in shame. "I'm sorry, Queen Cynthia," he replied with a bow. "I just thought… it was only fair."

Cynthia gave him a death glare as he spoke his words. He looked up into her eyes in utter fear.

"I'm so sorry."

Then Cynthia suddenly smiled.

"We'll work everything out when we come back home," she stated happily.

Then, simply reaching out her hand, she knocked Cyrus over psychically and caused him to drop his Adamant Orb. She then caused it to float over to her, as she picked it up and took it with her.

"I'm sorry, Cyrus, but I guess I'll have to let you survive," she told him. "I have more important business to take care of."

Cyrus was stunned as Cynthia teleported away, with Lucian joining her. Hunter J, meanwhile, stood by silently the whole time.

"Why didn't you do something about her? I need that orb!" Cyrus shouted.

"You never told me you wanted me to take back the orb, you only told me that you wanted to distract Cynthia," Hunter J replied. "Next time, you'll have to be more specific."

Cyrus sighed, as he looked off into the distance in disappointment.

* * *

Cynthia took Lucian by the hand and led him to her room. That was where she picked up some sort of item that resembled a ring and took it with her. She then led him back to her throne, where she sat upon it.

"So, Lucian, I see that you have been unfaithful to me," she stated.

She then snapped her fingers.

"Bow," she said.

Lucian immediately dropped to his knees and bowed his head, feeling shame for kissing Hunter J, even though his own wife had committed much worse sins than he.

"I want to give you something," she said. "Please rise and take this."

Lucian stood up, not understanding what Cynthia was talking about. She then took his right hand and slipped the ring onto his index finger.

"I designed this very special device for only someone very special," Cynthia told him. "You know who that person was?"

"Me, Queen Cynthia?" Lucian asked.

"No," Cynthia said solemnly. "It was designed to be used on Sabrina, my mortal enemy."

Lucian gulped.

"I don't understand, Queen Cynthia," Lucian stated.

"You will," Cynthia replied.

She then pulled out a remote control device and pressed a button on it. Instantly electric waves shot through Lucian's body, coming through the ring, electrocuting him and putting him in great pain. He fell to the floor in agony.

"Queen Cynthia, why?" he yelled.

"Because you were unfaithful to me," Cynthia responded. "So you shall be punished."

She pressed the button again, and Lucian went into convulsions, screaming.

"You are unworthy to be called my husband," Cynthia stated. "What are you, anyway?"

Lucian looked up at his wife in fear. "Queen Cynthia… I'm so sorry."

"You are not forgiven," she replied, and pressed the button again.

As Lucian rolled on the floor in pain again, he reached in vain for the ring, but found that as hard as he tried, he could not take it off.

"You try to take it off, but you fail," Cynthia said. "I specially designed this ring to be made so it will never come off."

Seizing the opportunity that Cynthia afforded him in stopping the electrocution for a moment, he got up and tried to run away, with all the remaining strength he had left. However, once he reached halfway through the throne room, the electrocution began automatically, and he fell to the ground in agony again.

"This device is designed to make sure that you may not leave a 25-foot radius without being electrocuted," Cynthia said. "It was originally so my prisoner couldn't get away, but here it will serve the double purpose of making sure you can't go off kissing other women."

Lucian looked up angrily at Cynthia. "You- you hypocrite!" he screamed. "You lay in bed with Cyrus… you did worse things than I!"

"I am Queen Cynthia," Cynthia stated in an angry voice. "As queen, I may do whatever I want. If I wish to lay with another man, it is my choice. If I wish to kill you, it is my choice. I am royal, my choices are sovereign. You must obey the queen."

Lucian sighed. "I forgive you, Queen Cynthia," he said. "I will even allow you to sleep with whoever you want… just please, stop the pain."

"You shall suffer until you learn what it means to turn on the queen!" Cynthia screamed.

She pressed the button once more, sending him to the ground in agony. He cried out in pain, hoping that she would show some mercy, but she refused.

"What shall I call you, Lucian?" Cynthia asked. "You don't deserve to be called my husband, or even by name. Perhaps prisoner? Perhaps traitor? No, I'm not that cruel… you're just a boy."

She stopped the electrocution for a moment, allowing Lucian a chance to catch his breath.

"Queen Cynthia, I will do whatever you want," Lucian cried, gasping for air. "Please, just let me bow before you… then you may reign over me in triumph."

Cynthia smiled at his idea. "Get to the ground now, then, boy," she said.

Lucian just threw his body to the ground in front of Cynthia's throne. He pressed his face to the floor, refusing to look up at all. The electric shocks still continued to go through his body, and he winced at the nonstop pain.

"From this moment forward, boy, you will live for one purpose and one purpose only – to please me," Cynthia stated. "You no longer have a life of your own, you are no longer even your own identity. You will use every breath and every ounce of energy you have to please me. If you refuse, you will be tortured constantly before I choose to end your life. Is that understood, boy?"

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Lucian mumbled.

"When we sleep together, the sole purpose is for you to bring pleasure to me," Cynthia stated. "If you feel pleasure yourself, that is okay, but the entire purpose is to make sure that I am brought pleasure. When it comes to your life, I will permit you to read books on your knees before me, as long as you take every five minutes to acknowledge my royalty. You will remain on your knees for the majority of your life, while your thoughts center on my superiority to you. You will constantly acknowledge the fact that I am your superior and that you are my inferior. You will even make sure not to breathe in the same direction as me, so as not to force me to breathe any air that you have breathed. You will make sure to bow your head in shame any time I bring up the woman whom who kissed. If you do all this, I will be merciful to you and not electrocute you as often… but I will still electrocute you twice a day. Is that understood, boy?"

Lucian gasped, hearing all the things Cynthia wanted out of him. He wanted to escape, but what could he do? Cynthia held his very life in the palm of her hand.

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," he stated, with his forehead still touching the floor.

Cynthia suddenly grew angry. "How pathetic of myself, to have mercy on a boy so worthless!" she exclaimed.

She then kicked him in the head with her high heel, causing him to bleed.

"Oh, I am just too merciful," she said. "For me to show mercy to a boy so useless… what is wrong with me?"

She then pressed the button again, causing him to go into electric shock again.

"You worthless piece of garbage, just to be allowed in my presence is an honor!" she exclaimed. "You don't even deserve to breathe the same air as me!"

Lucian gasped for air, regretting completely that he had allowed himself to try to take revenge on his wife by kissing Hunter J. Now his life was completely at Cynthia's mercy; she could kill him at any time she wished.

"So, boy, you want to serve a purpose other than taking up space?" Cynthia asked Lucian.

"Yes!" Lucian cried from the ground.

"Very well then, you shall come to my room with me in order to serve me," Cynthia stated.

Lucian then tried to get up, but he could not. He was just in too much pain.

"Oh, are you that worthless?" Cynthia asked. "Never mind then, I thought you were a man of some strength."

She simply gave him a kick to the head as she walked out of the room. He then just lay there, flat on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

* * *

Cynthia found her little sister Diane taking care of Roy in a back room. Her younger sister copied off her fashion style, dressing in all black, while wearing fur. Cynthia commended Diane on her style, then began to laugh.

"What is it, Queen Sister?" Diane asked.

"Oh, it's Lucian," Cynthia replied. "I sure scared him… maybe a little too much."

"What do you mean?" Diane questioned.

"I tortured him for kissing another woman, then told him a bunch of stuff about how he was useless to me and that he was not even allowed to breathe the same air as me," Cynthia said. "I just wanted to scare him badly enough that he would never even think about kissing another woman again… I want him to fall back in love with me."

"Don't you think that perhaps showing mercy would be a better way of getting him to fall in love with you again?" Diane asked.

Cynthia glared at her sister. "How dare you question the queen! Drop to your knees now, girl!"

Diane, ever the obedient sister, immediately fell to her knees. "I'm sorry, Queen Sister, I only want to help."

"I know that," Cynthia said, smiling. "Thanks for trying to help me."

She then sighed.

"I'll make it all up to Lucian… he just has to wait and see… I still love him."

* * *

The people of Sinnoh began to grow restless. Their gym leaders had been taken away to prison, and their queen had not done a thing to help them.

"Where is our queen when we need her?" a man yelled.

"She doesn't care about us, the people of her land!" another one shouted.

"If she doesn't do something, we'll find ourselves a new queen – one who will care for us!" still another one screamed.

They continued to yell and make a big fuss in the streets of Sinnoh's cities. The whole time, Cynthia knew every one of their complaints, being able to read their minds. And yet, she did not care.

"These people must learn that I am their queen, and that those gym leaders were never of any importance to this land," Cynthia stated to her sister. "I will soon give them a replacement."

"Replacement?" Diane asked.

"Yes," Cynthia said with a smile. "That shall be you."

She went over to a shelf and pulled out one of the old crowns she used to wear while growing up.

"I hereby declare you as Princess Diane," Cynthia stated, placing the crown on her little sister's head. "You now have authority over every person in the land of Sinnoh except for me."

"Thank you, Queen Sister," Diane replied, bowing. "I do not deserve such an honor from you."

"You come from a royal family," Cynthia said. "Your very blood is royal. To be related to me is your honor. Now bask in the glory of being royalty."

She and her sister both smiled happily. Truly they both enjoyed nothing more than being royal, even if this meant ruining relationships and torturing others.


	22. Celestial Catastrophe

Chapter 22

Celestic Catastrophe

Cynthia walked back into her throne room to find her husband Lucian struggling to get up. She quickly rushed over to him and took off the ring that she put on his finger.

"I'm sorry, Lucian," she told him. "I really am."

Lucian just looked up at her in total confusion. What was she saying to him?

"I really didn't mean all that stuff, I just was trying to scare you into never wanting to kiss another woman again," Cynthia explained.

"Well, you did a good job of that," Lucian stated.

Cynthia looked closer at him, seeing the horrible condition he was in. She quickly picked him up.

"Diane!" she called.

"Yes, Queen Sister?" Diane asked, from the other room.

"Please take charge here while I am away," Cynthia replied.

Cynthia then quickly teleported away with Lucian, as she took him to a nearby hospital, hoping to get him healed.

Meanwhile, some of the angry citizens walked into the Sinnoh League headquarters building, wanting to find Cynthia and protest her actions. However, the only one they found there was Diane, sitting on Cynthia's throne.

"Did Queen Cynthia get shorter?" one asked.

"I am Princess Diane, and you will treat me as such," Diane said to them.

However, the people simply laughed.

"Come on, I don't think she can be serious about this," one of them said.

"Queen Cynthia wouldn't allow anyone else to be royal," another one stated.

"She has given me the title of princess," Diane replied. "I am to take over while she is away."

"Away? Away doing what?" someone asked.

"It is of no concern to you," Diane responded. "As for you, I am going to have to demand that you leave this building immediately."

"You can't make us!" a person shouted. "You're no princess!"

"Let's get her!" another one suggested.

The mob of men charged Diane, ready to kidnap her, but at the last second, she reached out her hand, and a giant black hole appeared.

She, Cynthia's sister, could create black holes as well. And this one caused all the men to permanently disappear.

* * *

Cynthia checked in on Lucian, who was lying on a hospital bed getting treatment.

"I'm not sure if he's going to make it," a doctor told Cynthia bluntly. "Whatever he suffered through was apparently so intense that he just might not make it through alive."

Cynthia frowned. "What is causing him the most pain?" she asked.

"It actually seems to be a mental problem more than anything else," the doctor stated. "He seems to be… mentally scarred."

Cynthia simply looked on, knowing exactly what the doctor meant. And yet she had nothing to say, realizing it was all her fault.

* * *

Karen held a meeting of the members of Team Rocket. Clearly she was frustrated by Cynthia's lack of response to holding the Sinnoh gym leaders hostage.

"Obviously Cynthia does not care about her own people," Karen declared. "Now we must force her to care about her gym leaders. They are not the ones we have an issue with, but with her. Our first move will be to get the gym leaders to turn on Cynthia."

"How do you think you'll get them to do that?" asked A.J.

"They aren't being rescued by her, I'm sure they aren't too happy with her right now," Karen replied. "It shouldn't be too hard to convince them that they can have their freedom as long as they turn on Cynthia."

So Karen went to the prison in which the Sinnoh gym leaders were being held, and she offered to release them – if they would only turn on Cynthia.

"_Oui!_" Fantina exclaimed.

"Yes, of course!" Candice cried.

The others obliged as well, and soon Karen had them all out of the prison. She now gathered together all the Team Rocket members along with the Sinnoh gym leaders, and gave them their new instructions.

"You are to go into the land of Sinnoh and destroy Cynthia's hometown of Celestic Town," Karen said. "That will give a warning to her that will let her know we mean business."

"But we can't go around destroying our own land!" Wake protested.

"It's only one town, a small one at that, and it belongs to that wicked witch of a queen you've got," Karen replied. "Now go do that and return, and we'll be well on our way to freeing the Pokémon world from Cynthia's iron grip."

So the Team Rocket members and Sinnoh gym leaders began gathering some Flying Pokémon to use in order to fly over to Celestic Town and begin their assault.

* * *

The trainers arrived in Celestic Town, finding the place seemingly deserted. If there were any people there, they were inside the few houses that were actually in the town. Immediately some of the Team Rocket members went to work on sending their Pokémon to attack the small buildings around the town, but the Sinnoh leaders held back.

"What's the matter?" A.J. yelled. "You're supposed to be helping us, remember?"

"I'm sorry," Candice said. "I just can't do it."

"Then you're going back to jail!" A.J. cried. "We'll let Karen know all about it!"

Reluctantly, the Sinnoh leaders pulled out their Poké Balls, sending out their Pokémon, but each of them secretly told their Pokémon to hold back on their attacks. It did not matter anyway, as the Team Rocket members did more than enough to destroy the town. Moreover, Cynthia's house was destroyed, with her grandparents still inside it. The house collapsed down upon them and killed them both.

"Good work, Pikachu!" Ash Ketchum yelled, after Pikachu finished attacking Cynthia's house.

"Well, that should be enough," A.J. replied. "This ought to stir up Cynthia enough."

The Team Rocket trainers began to go, when they noticed that the Sinnoh gym leaders were trying to escape.

"Hey, what are you doing?" A.J. called. "You're coming back with the rest of us!"

The Sinnoh gym leaders sighed as they were forced to fly back to the Team Rocket base in Goldenrod City to see Karen.

* * *

"Excellent work," Karen declared. "I am most satisfied with all you have done for me. Especially you Sinnoh gym leaders, going along with it."

"Excuse me," A.J. interrupted her, "but they really didn't do all that much to help. It was Ash and I who did most of the work."

"Well, then I'll congratulate you two most of all," Karen said. "Thanks to your efforts, we have taken revenge on Cynthia, and there is no doubt now that she will now realize that we mean business."

"But what good is it going to do?" Silver asked. "Getting her angry is just going to lead to her taking further revenge on our lands, isn't it?"

"Not when her pawns are sitting on our side of the chessboard," Karen replied. "The queen will be forced to go into enemy territory all by herself, and she will be trapped."

"Quit it with the chess analogies and just play it straight," Gold stated. "You really think we've got Cynthia where we want her?"

"Absolutely!" Karen exclaimed. "Just wait and see!"

* * *

Cynthia heard the news about the destruction of Celestic Town while in the hospital. She also heard that her grandparents had been killed. Her response?

A shrug of her shoulders.

"Is Lucian okay?" she asked the doctors.

"I told you before, Queen Cynthia, there may be some serious damage to his brain, we don't know if he'll ever be the same again," the doctor replied. "It seems that what hurt him the most was not something physical, but rather something he was told."

"I can't imagine what that would have been," Cynthia responded.

"Who knows?" the doctor replied.

In Cynthia's mind, she thought about her grandparents' death, and refused to care. After all, they always had something against her attempting to become royalty. They never accepted her as queen. They were simply interchangeable parts, people who could be cut loose when necessary. If this gave her opponents pleasure, then she was happy that her opponents had gained something to be happy about, because she knew what she was going to do to them.

"Well, I'm sure that he'll be better again," Cynthia said.

"You'd better hope so," the doctor warned.

Cynthia then simply teleported away.

* * *

Cynthia arrived at her throne room, where Diane told her sister about her newfound powers. Cynthia could only smile.

"Diane, you and I are going to rule over this Pokémon world together," Cynthia declared. "No one will stop us, as we will cause every person who lives in this world to recognize me as queen and you as princess."

"But wouldn't it be better if they recognized us without us forcing them to?" Diane asked.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Cynthia replied. "But just in case no one realizes our royalty, we'll just have to force it out of them."

She then broke the news to her little sister.

"Our grandparents were killed today," Cynthia said.

"Killed?" Diane asked. "By who, Queen Sister?"

"By a very vicious and evil woman named Sabrina," Cynthia replied. "The same woman who killed our parents has gone on to kill our grandparents as well."

"I have powers now, I'll kill Sabrina myself if I have to!" Diane exclaimed.

"It will take us working together in order to finish off Sabrina, but she will die," Cynthia stated. "One day soon justice will be served, and Sabrina will be rightfully killed."

* * *

Sabrina and Will listened to the news, and knew that it was not going well.

"Team Rocket attacked Sinnoh?" Will asked. "They're just asking for Cynthia to take revenge!"

"Even worse, they killed Cynthia's grandparents," Sabrina replied. "Now Cynthia has every reason she needs to come at us with everything she's got."

"How stupid, what is that Karen thinking?" Will questioned.

"I don't know, what is she thinking?" Sabrina added.

"What do you mean by that?" Will asked.

"You know," Sabrina said. "I know that you know Karen better than anyone else."

"Oh, shut up, Sabrina," Will stated.

"No, Will, I want to hear all about her," Sabrina replied. "I'm ready. Tell me all about your time with Karen. I want to know how exactly you and her got along… I've always thought that a dark-type and a psychic-type wouldn't mix."

"They can… it's possible," Will said.

"Of course it's possible," Sabrina replied. "But I now want to know exactly what it was like, you two being together, every last detail."

"Are you sure?" Will asked. "You won't… get mad or anything?"

"Trust me, Will, I won't," Sabrina replied.

"Okay," Will replied. "But you might regret asking…"


	23. Separate Ways

Chapter 23

Separate Ways

Will began to go into detail to Sabrina about his past relationship with Karen, who was now heading up Team Rocket. He feared telling her everything, because he figured Sabrina would get offended over some stuff, but he told her anyway.

(April 2001)

Will was an up-and-coming trainer in the land of Johto, attempting to enter the Pokémon League Tournament. This required earning eight badges from the gyms in Johto, but he felt he did not have to go through all that. He decided to go right to the Pokémon League and try to gain an exemption.

"An exemption?" the woman at the counter asked. "What for?"

"To enter the Pokémon League tournament without having to go through the whole land of Johto collecting badges," Will said. "I am powerful enough of a trainer that collecting them would be a waste of time."

"Let's see about that," the woman replied. "Why not battle me?"

Will then went into a battle against the woman, who completely wiped out his Pokémon using some sort of attacks he had never seen before. Somehow, these Pokémon were immune to the attacks of psychic Pokémon.

"I don't understand," Will said. "I was easily able to defeat all the trainers I've faced so far. Why won't my attacks work against your Pokémon?"

"Go get your badges and come back, boy," the woman replied.

"Hey, I'm not much younger than you," Will protested.

"Well, thanks for the compliment, but I don't think so," the woman said. "Now go away."

(May 2002)

After over a year of training, Will came back to the Pokémon League, asking for an exemption again.

"I remember you," the woman said. "You fool – why didn't you just go out and collect badges?"

"I don't like travelling," Will replied. "I just like staying at my home near Indigo Plateau."

"Well, you're never gonna get far in this Pokémon world with an attitude like that," the woman stated. "But if you can manage to defeat me, I'll think about giving you that exemption."

This time, Will had his Pokémon use different attacks besides Psychic attacks, and he managed to defeat the woman easily.

"Very interesting," the woman said. "You may be Pokémon League-ready after all."

"You mean I get the exemption?" Will asked.

"Absolutely not!" the woman replied. "First you have to defeat an Elite Four member to prove your worth, but whether they choose to battle you is totally their choice, given that you have zero badges."

The woman then put a request in for Will to battle the Elite Four, but each and every one of the Elite Four refused to battle him, since he had no badges.

"Forget about it, boy," the woman told Will. "You're going to have to earn those badges the hard way, like everyone else."

"I won't give up," Will said. "I'll come back every day until one of them obliges."

"Good luck with all that," the woman responded.

(June 2002)

After coming back for 30 consecutive days, and each and every time being rejected, Will became desolate. However, the woman this time spoke up for him.

"This boy maybe has a real fear of travelling," the woman told the Elite Four. "Just beat him badly and he'll go away."

However, the plan backfired, when Bruno decided to fight Will and got beaten badly.

"Now what are we going to do?" Lance asked Lorelei. "This kid has some talent; we can't just reject him."

"We can offer him a position on the Pokémon League staff," Lorelei replied. "There he can stay until a position eventually opens up."

So Will was offered a staffing position at the Indigo League building, where he was in charge of taking care of all sorts of statistics. He enjoyed his job greatly, being very much a mathematical mind, and he was also happy to receive an exemption to the Pokémon League tournament.

(January 2003)

Will was given a slot in the 64-trainer Pokémon League tournament, and to his shock, his opponent in round one was the very woman who worked at the counter of the Pokémon League, a woman whom he had seen from time to time but never got time to know. Her name was Karen.

"Nice to get to battle you," Karen told him. "Now we find out if you really have any talent after all."

Karen then wiped him out, knowing all his techniques from the past, and she wiped out all his Pokémon with the mere use of her Umbreon. Will's first trip to the Pokémon League Tournament was an utter embarrassment, out in the first round.

"I can't believe it," Will moaned after the battle. "I should have spent more time training and less time working."

"I hear you," Karen replied. "If I had more time to train, I bet they'd be taking me into the Elite Four soon."

"Elite Four?" Will asked. "Are you really that good?"

"I did the same thing as you, boy," Karen replied. "I tried entering the Pokémon League tournament without earning eight badges… and finally they accepted me. That's because I have Dark-type Pokémon, which trainers are not yet used to battling against, so I was able to embarrass that idiot Lance and earn my exemption."

"Well, thanks for all your advice, and I wish you luck," Will told her.

Karen then went on to the semifinals of the tournament, losing to Lorelei, but earning a bronze medal for her performance. After she was awarded her medal, Will was the first to congratulate her.

"Great job," he told her. "They'll accept you into the Elite Four now for sure."

"I'm not so sure about that," Karen replied. "That probably didn't impress them nearly enough."

"Well, it impressed me," Will said.

Karen found herself charmed by Will, who seemed to have a crush on her. She noticed it but decided to take advantage of it rather than come out and say something about it.

(March 2003)

Will and Karen's relationship officially began, after a month or so of "casual dinners" together. Finally Will came out and said that he found himself attracted by her, and she accepted him. On their first "official" date, they enjoyed one long, wet, sloppy kiss.

* * *

"Wait a minute!" Sabrina protested. "I thought you never kissed her!"

"What are you talking about?" Will replied. "That was you who never kissed Gary. Us… well, we kissed… uh… well, a lot."

"How many times?" Sabrina asked angrily.

"I can't count the times on my fingers," Will responded.

"What?" Sabrina exclaimed.

"But I can come up with a rough estimate…" Will said thoughtfully.

"Should I even ask?" Sabrina wondered.

"It has to be somewhere around 300… maybe closer to 400," Will replied. "And let me tell you, she was a good kisser."

Sabrina crossed her arms angrily.

"Yes, a very, very good kisser…"

"Oh, all right! Enough with you!" Sabrina shouted, about to walk away.

"Wait a minute! I'm coming up to the part that you might like!" Will exclaimed.

"What's that?" Sabrina asked.

"You know, the breakup," Will replied.

* * *

(January 2004)

Will and Karen faced off against each other in the Pokémon League Tournament again, this time in the second round. This time Will soundly defeated Karen, needing only two Pokémon to wipe out three of Karen's. This put him into the third round, while eliminating Karen early. Will felt quite happy about his performance, and so did several of the Elite Four.

"You keep performing like that, and you'll be one of us soon!" Bruno exclaimed.

"You've got some real talent, keep it up," Lance told him.

Karen became extremely jealous of Will, because she had received no such praise from the Elite Four after her bronze medal-winning performance the previous year. She wanted to become more powerful, and she was determined to figure out a way of doing just that. (Meanwhile Will went on to lose in the quarterfinals of the tournament, still a step below what she had achieved the previous year.)

(July 2004)

When Karen was training with her Pokémon one day, she noticed something strange. Her hands were creating small black holes and balls of dark energy, very similar to the attacks of her dark Pokémon. After some testing of her abilities, she realized that she indeed had dark powers.

This was not the first she had heard of such dark powers; apparently a woman far away in the land of Sinnoh also had the same ability. Karen considered travelling away to Sinnoh to train under that woman, but she knew that her boyfriend Will did not like to travel, so she rejected that plan.

(August 2004)

One day, Will was called to the Elite Four for a meeting. It was apparently over Agatha contemplating retirement.

"Agatha may or may not retire this year, and we're going to need a replacement whenever she does," Lance told Will. "You will be that replacement."

"Me?" Will replied. "Wow, thank you!"

Will rushed off to tell this news to Karen, but she became extremely angry.

"I can't believe it!" she shouted. "I was here before you, I've been training longer than you, I'm a better trainer than you, I've even won a medal, and you haven't. How could they possibly accept you before me?"

"I don't know," Will replied. "But aren't you happy for me?"

"No, I'm not!" Karen yelled. "And I won't be until I get my own rightful seat on the Elite Four!"

"But Karen, why can't we be happy about my-"

"No! You know what, Will, I've had it with your fear of travelling. I'm going off on my own to hone my skills. You can come with me if you truly love me, or you can stay here like a scaredy cat if you don't."

"But – but – Karen, you know how much I don't like-"

"Then don't come."

Thus Will and Karen's relationship ended that day, and they went their separate ways. Karen travelled off to Sinnoh to train under Cynthia and become very powerful using her dark attacks, while Will remained at the Pokémon League, where Agatha in fact did not retire.

* * *

"And, of course, the next year… I met you," Will said.

"And we lived happily ever after, the end," Sabrina added sarcastically.

"The most interesting thing is that after Agatha announced her retirement, Lance decided to go to the Elite Four plus Champion system they have today, allowing both Karen and I to join the Elite. I think this satisfied her, and that's why she has nothing against me today."

"But now she's out of the Elite," Sabrina pointed out.

"It's only temporary," Will said. "She'll find her way back in, or she's trying to become something greater than an Elite. I'm not sure what that could possibly be, but if there is a position more powerful, she's trying to earn it."

"So, I have to know, Will," Sabrina stated sternly. "Did you two… ever… well, you know?"

Will's face turned bright red. He looked away from Sabrina, whose face turned red for a different reason.

"Don't tell me… oh, I can't believe it!" Sabrina shouted. "I got married to a man who actually… oh, I don't even want to think about it!"

Will continued to look away, while Sabrina began to rant.

"You know, Will, I saved my first kiss for you – my first _kiss_! And you couldn't even save… oh, you're disgusting!"

"Relax, Sabrina," Will replied. "No, she and I never did that… I just thought it would be fun to scare you a little."

Sabrina breathed a sigh of relief. "You mean it?" she asked him.

"Would I lie to you?" Will asked.

"Take off that mask before I answer that," Sabrina demanded.

Will took off his mask, and Sabrina then came in close and kissed him.

"Oh, you're all mine!" she exclaimed. "Now come on, get to the bedroom, we have some work to do!"

"You'll be doing the work for nine months if we aren't careful," Will replied, as the two lovers ran off to their room, laughing and giggling.


	24. Imagine

Chapter 24

Imagine

The next day, Sabrina and Will were eating their dinner together, talking about random issues, when they were suddenly joined by Liza and Tate.

"Liza!" Sabrina exclaimed. "If we knew you were coming, I would have made more food!"

"That's okay, Sabrina, I'll just eat yours," Liza said, ripping the vegetables off Sabrina's plate.

"Come on, don't be rude," Tate warned Liza.

"Sabrina needs to lose a little weight, don't you think?" Liza asked Tate.

Sabrina's face turned red with anger, while Will looked ready to punch Liza in the face.

"Oh, why did you get me in on this?" Tate questioned.

"Because I have a feeling Will's going to tell us something important," Liza said. "Aren't you, Will?"

Will looked befuddled. He stared over at Sabrina, wondering what to say.

"Come on, spill the beans, Will, there's something really important you want to tell us," Liza continued.

"Uh, yeah, about that," Will said, with Sabrina's eyes beginning to open up wide.

"What is it, Will, that you couldn't share with me?" Sabrina asked.

"That's the thing, Sabrina, there's nothing!" Will exclaimed. "There is absolutely nothing important I have to tell, otherwise I would have already told it to Sabrina. Nothing big happened today, and I was just telling Sabrina about my work, how we're creating some new types of balls, and that was simply it."

"Oh, you're no fun," Liza replied.

"Well, we didn't come here for nothing, let's hear what he was talking about," Tate suggested.

"It's nothing special, just the completion of the prototype of the Super Ball project," Will stated. "We're still not sure if it should be put out on the market, but hey, the Master Ball's a top-seller now."

"And the Master Ball is ridiculously expensive, you capitalist pig," Liza broke in. "Who set that price of ¥30000? That's the price of a video game system."

Will laughed. "Of course I came up with that price, and look at how it's paid off," he bragged. "Silph Company is now the #1 company in the Pokémon world in profits, overtaking Devon Corporation."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Money's never been that important to me," she stated. "Though I don't mind it…"

"So," Will continued, "if our Super Ball project is a success, we could potentially top sales of the Master Ball. It's amazing."

"What does it do?" Tate asked.

"It's a ball that can catch anything – not just Pokémon, even humans," Will explained.

Sabrina gulped and gave Will a cold stare. Liza giggled.

"I don't think Sabrina likes that idea of yours," Liza said.

"Will! Do you realize what that ball could be used for in the wrong hands?" Sabrina shouted. "It'll be worse than the Master Ball fiasco of three years ago, when Team Rocket used the Master Balls to steal other people's Pokémon!"

Will made a hushing motion with his lips. "That's why it's all top secret," he explained. "We don't want the wrong people to find out about it and use it for bad purposes. See, the way we've made the ball is the opposite of a Master Ball. With a Master Ball, no matter how hard a Pokémon tries, it cannot escape. But with a Super Ball, any living being can escape at will. It's just useful for storage purposes."

"Storage purposes?" Sabrina asked.

"Say I wanted to pick up a giant rock and move it out of the way," Will explained. "All I do is capture it into the Super Ball, then release it wherever."

"But what about the idea of capturing _humans_?" Sabrina wondered. "Don't you think that's a little dangerous?"

"Well, that just was something that came along with the technology," Will replied. "We're not sure how we're going to put that into practice yet, but the general idea is that we could allow for easy transport of humans by them going into Super Balls."

"You're crazy," Sabrina exclaimed, getting up from the table. "You and those money-making hogs over at the Silph Company are so big on making a yen that you'll create something that could risk people's lives. Come talk to me when you've got an actually good idea, like something we could use if Cynthia were to attack our city."

She began to walk away. "I like your boots!" Will shouted, hoping for Sabrina to change her mind with a bit of flattery. She turned back to look at him, but simply gave him a cold stare, before turning back away and leaving the room.

"Well, that was interesting, but it wasn't the big news that Liza told us we had to come here for," Tate stated.

"What exactly did you come here for, anyway?" Will asked Liza.

"I'm sorry," Liza responded. "I just had this premonition that you were going to tell us something so spectacular, that it's going to eventually save one of our lives."

"Huh?" Will asked.

"Liza's been having premonitions lately, and they've been scary," Tate replied. "She's seen things like Cynthia sitting on a throne made of gold, Sabrina no longer being on the face of the earth, an entire nation bowing down before Cynthia… I say they're nightmares, she says they're things of the future."

The things Tate said began to shake Will. "Liza, why didn't you tell us these things earlier?" he asked her.

"I figured that if that's the future, what can we do to change it?" Liza responded. "We just have to accept fate."

"I refuse to accept something like that, where Sabrina is gone… I'll do whatever I can to stop it from happening!" Will exclaimed.

"And that's why we came here," Tate said. "Because Liza's latest premonition was that you had come up with some way to save Sabrina's life and it would eventually lead to Cynthia's fall."

Will looked aghast. "I'm sorry," he replied. "If I had anything like that, I think I'd put Cynthia out of power now."

Liza's eyes dropped in sorrow. "Then it's all going to come true," she muttered. "You were my hope, Will, that something you would do would end up saving this world from Cynthia's reign."

"Liza, I think you need to get your head checked," Will responded. "Those premonitions you're having, they couldn't possibly come true. Stop thinking your dreams are that powerful, just realize that all of us see frightening visions from time to time."

"But they seemed so real…" Liza said.

"Relax," Will said. "Just as much as I'm not going to rescue everyone, those bad things aren't going to happen."

* * *

Cynthia stood next to Lucian's bed in his hospital room, as he woke up groggily.

"Queen Cynthia!" he exclaimed. "Oh, please, have mercy on me!"

She bent down and planted a kiss on his lips.

"So you're not going to punish me?" he asked.

"Lucian, I will admit, I abused my powers," she said. "I treated you like I should treat those who are my enemies. You are not my enemy, you simply made a mistake."

"Queen Cynthia, your powers are absolute," Lucian replied. "You do not abuse your powers in any way – whether I exist or not is up to your choice."

"Well, I thank you for feeling that way about me, but I love you, Lucian," Cynthia replied. "If I were to kill you, who else would I have?"

Lucian held his tongue from saying "Cyrus."

"But I will commend you for being the first to recognize my powers as absolute," Cynthia replied. "There will be a time in the future when all in this land will bow down before me or die, there will be no other option. Sabrina will be no more, and my reign shall be glorious."

"Why in the future?" Lucian asked. "Why not now?"

"Lucian, Lucian, I am not powerful enough," Cynthia replied.

"Yes you are!" Lucian protested.

Cynthia smiled. "Lucian, there is a difference between the powers I have now and the powers I will obtain," she explained. "My powers currently can attack from short range, and I can have knowledge of limited things. When I obtain the ultimate power, thousands of people will fall to their knees by the simple twitch of my finger and my wishing it to be so."

"But won't there be those with powers who fight you?" Lucian asked. "Remember Erika, Giselle?"

"You are correct, my dear Lucian," Cynthia replied. "As of right now, if I am attacked by those who have lesser powers than myself, and they combine their forces enough, they can stop me from having free reign. If I were to snap my fingers at even Sabrina, she could refuse and then attack me. Although she may ultimately fail, there is also the chance that I could be captured again under the right circumstances. Basically, what I mean to say is that my power is very limited, as powerful as I am."

"So…" Lucian began to say.

"So," Cynthia continued, "when I obtain this ultimate power, not even those with powers of their own may stand up against me. They will be helpless themselves. Erika will kneel at my will. Giselle will bow as I wish. Sabrina will die with the snap of my fingers. My power will be truly absolute, and I will forever reign as queen."

"Forever?" Lucian asked. "As much as I love you, Cynthia, you cannot live forever."

Cynthia smiled innocently. What that smile meant, Lucian did not know. However, what he did know was that she had something absolutely nefarious planned. It would be something that he had never seen before, or even the rest of the Pokémon world. It would have to be utterly amazing. But what could it be?

* * *

"That Cynthia – if I didn't love her so much I'd kill her!"

"You couldn't even give her a papercut even with all your strength."

Cyrus and Hunter J sat in his new office in the Vermillion City gym, where they had both teleported to (as Hunter J had teleportation powers as well). They sat there with the Team Galactic commanders, who were quite upset that Cyrus had nearly set his new world in motion without them.

"Give it a rest, guys," Cyrus said. "Look, I really didn't want to set it in motion, I just wanted to escape from Cynthia killing me. Why else would I have included Lucian in on the plan? Of anyone to survive, I surely don't want him to make it into the new world."

"So Cynthia has the Adamant Orb again?" Mars asked.

"Yes, even though she doesn't need it," Cyrus responded.

"Why doesn't she just destroy it, like the Lustrous Orb?" Jupiter questioned. "If she doesn't want us to create our new world so badly, then she could just crush it into pieces and end our hopes and dreams in an instant."

"That's because she's cruel," Saturn said. "If our hopes were ruined, then we'd have no reason to work for her. Instead, she holds on to our very dreams and extends them before us, just waiting for us to take them. When we do, then she simply snatches them away again, and forces us to do whatever she wants in order to get close again. It's just not fair."

"But there is hope," Cyrus stated. "As proven by the last incident, her weakness is Lucian. If we can only threaten Lucian's life, we can get her to do what we want."

"Lucian's cute," Hunter J commented. "He's a good kisser, too."

"You're not taking him into our new world, J," Cyrus stated. "The new world's not big enough for Lucian and Cynthia… only Cynthia will join us. It'll be just the six of us… with Cynthia being all mine."

"As you wish, sir, just pay over the cash as I expect," Hunter J responded. "I live for money and money only."

"I've got a bunch right here, you can take every yen of it," Cyrus said, reaching into the drawers of Lt. Surge's desk. "You just make sure that you get that Adamant Orb back for us."

"Why won't Cynthia just drop that stupid Lucian and go into the new world with someone better like you?" Jupiter asked.

"I don't know," Cyrus replied. "I don't know what he has to offer her. What does he have that I don't have?"

"That Adamant Orb is all our hopes…" Mars said. "If Cynthia was to destroy it, would there be any other way of waking Dialga?"

"No," Cyrus said. "But I firmly believe that Cynthia is holding that orb because she someday does plan to go to the new world, she's just enjoying this world while it lasts for her."

"I can't wait for the new world," Saturn remarked. "Dialga will give us eternal youthfulness – we'll never age, no matter how long we live. We'll live on and on, as long as we wish, since Dialga is the guardian of time."

"Whatever," Hunter J said.

"J, don't you believe the stories about Dialga?" Jupiter asked.

"Not a bit," Hunter J replied. "You can use your orb for all I care, it's not going to create a new world with all of you living forever. It might awaken a Pokémon that causes a bunch of destruction, but that'll be it. I'll be in my mansion counting my yen, and I won't be there to see you guys get killed."

"Don't worry about what she says," Cyrus said. "We'll be happy to let her live in the new world with us, because you don't need to believe in the new world in order to live in it. You just need to be in close proximity to Dialga when he releases his powers and creates the new world. Once it happens, things will be perfect for us, and we'll live in perfect harmony with Dialga. Just wait and see, J, you'll love it yourself."

Hunter J rolled her eyes.

"You're a crazy client," she muttered. "I can't wait to give you your orb and get out."

"You mean you won't join us in the new world?" Mars asked.

"Not if it means having to be around that thing when you awaken it," Hunter J responded. "Sorry, I don't believe your story."

"Let her do as she wishes," Cyrus stated. "As long as I have my Cynthia, that is all that matters."

Hunter J just looked on while the Team Galactic members excitedly went on about their new world.


	25. Chess

Chapter 25

Chess

Karen brought together Team Rocket again for a meeting, where she wanted to go over her plans to take down Cynthia.

"This is the big one," Karen announced. "In this case, I think we have to go all out. I think this situation absolutely requires a really desperate and fierce attack on Cynthia's palace in Sinnoh. It will take every single one of us trainers, every single one of the Sinnoh gym leaders helping us, and more. I am about to stir up the entire land of Sinnoh to storm the castle. Yes, we are going to have an entire country rise up and attack Cynthia with everything they have. This may cost hundreds of Pokémon's lives, but it will all be worth it in the end, because we will have freedom from monarchy!"

"Hold on a second!" Ash screamed. "I'm not willing to risk my Pikachu's life on this!"

"Me neither!" A.J. shouted. "My Sandshrew's not putting its life on the line for your crazy plan!"

"Very well, then," Karen stated. "That's fine."

Her eyes then filled with rage.

"Get out!"

A.J. and Ash quickly hurried away from Karen's sight.

"We don't need scaredy-cats like them anyway," Karen stated. "Do the rest of you want to live in a world where your city could be destroyed any second, where a so-called queen chooses whether you live or die? Or do you wish to live in freedom?"

"Freedom!" the trainers shouted.

"And just in case you were worried, I have a secret weapon that I'm willing to use against Cynthia," Karen added.

_After the pawns from Sinnoh are sacrificed, and my Team Rocket knights attack, the queen of Team Rocket will checkmate Cynthia,_ Karen thought.

* * *

Lucian got out of the hospital, and he was back in Cynthia's throne room. This time Cynthia was merciful to him and did not snap her fingers at him, making him feel a bit happier than normal.

"Queen Cynthia, I sense something, as if a giant wave of Pokémon are about to storm your palace," Lucian stated. "I know you have great powers, but I fear that this may be too much for you to handle."

Cynthia adjusted the golden crown on her head.

"Yes, my dear Lucian, as it stands, we are in great danger," she replied.

Lucian gasped in fear. Surely he thought Cynthia was going to give him a word of encouragement, but she shocked him by stating just the opposite.

"Queen Cynthia, I will do whatever it takes to protect you," Lucian said, not meaning those words at all – he knew that if anyone would be protecting someone, it would be her protecting him.

"Relax, Lucian, a sacrifice must be made in order to complete my grand plan," Cynthia replied. "You must be willing to do something only Cyrus would be willing to attempt in order for everything to go as planned."

Lucian's face turned sour upon hearing Cyrus's name.

"As you wish, Queen Cynthia," he said.

"Lucian, I must ask of you to gather all our belongings from our room, then go and get Roy and bring him to me," Cynthia requested. "For this building will fall."

Lucian looked up at Cynthia with confusion. Was she serious? This was the woman who could suck hundreds of people into black holes, surely she did not mean that she was going to allow her palace to be destroyed.

"I don't understand, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"Do as I say, Lucian," Cynthia stated.

"Wait, Queen Cynthia, you must tell me what is about to happen!" Lucian shouted. "I'm sure you foresee something, and you're hiding it from me!"

Cynthia sighed. "Lucian, I don't want to tell you, because you'll react the wrong way," she said.

"Just tell me, Queen Cynthia," Lucian responded.

Cynthia breathed another long sigh. "As you wish, Lucian…"

* * *

Karen's face came over Sinnoh TV, where she began to proclaim her orders to the whole country.

"All of you, lend me your ears!" Karen shouted at the camera. "Your queen has abandoned you! She has allowed her own gym leaders to be captured without a bit of concern! She has allowed her own grandparents to be killed, and without a care! She no longer cares about the land of Sinnoh, but her own power! I request of you, every single one of you, gather all your Pokémon! We will meet in front of her palace at exactly 6:00 pm, and we will unleash every Pokémon attack at once. Cynthia will be dethroned, and you will be free people once more!"

The television anchor turned to Karen. "Karen, we have heard from various reports that Cynthia has the power to suck people and Pokémon into black holes," she stated. "If this is true, the combined attacks of many people may have little to no effect on her."

Karen smiled evilly. "I understand that," she said. "But I have a secret weapon that will prevent Cynthia from destroying you all… I may not give it away, or else our plan will be foiled. You must trust me! I promise you, not a single human will die! Pokémon may be sacrificed, but of them there are many. It will be worth your freedom!"

"Is it really worth it?" the television anchor asked.

"Excuse me, but I'm afraid you don't know what happened to the land of Kanto, did you?" Karen questioned angrily. "Your queen killed hundreds of people there, claiming them for the land of Sinnoh. But it was a lie, I tell you – otherwise she would have rescued her own gym leaders when taken captive. Your gym leaders have now sided with us of Team Rocket, because they have seen the sham Cynthia is. She destroyed half of Kanto, and she will destroy your land next! She cares not about her people, but about her personal glory and power!"

"Very well, then," the television anchor replied. "I then ask for all of you to support Karen and Team Rocket."

"Remember, 6:00 pm, be there at the Sinnoh League headquarters!" Karen proclaimed. "If even one of you backs down in fear, it could mean the deaths of hundreds of your friends and family. This will require every single person in Sinnoh, and I mean it!"

* * *

Lucian looked at Cynthia with fear in his eyes. He was close to shaking.

"Queen Cynthia, no!"

"Yes," Cynthia replied.

"But why?" Lucian asked. "Why would you sacrifice-"

Cynthia placed her finger on her lips, hushing Lucian.

"Yes, Lucian, I understand your concern, but she completely agrees with my cause," Cynthia replied.

"She's your sister!" Lucian shouted. "She's your blood! You would be willing to put her life on the line for your own glory?"

"She offered to take part in the plan, and she refuses to back down," Cynthia responded.

"You scared her into it, I bet!" Lucian protested. "You threatened her!"

Cynthia smiled. "Oh, sometimes I wish you weren't psychic," she said. "Nevertheless, this is how it must be."

"Just tell me one good reason why – and I mean a good reason," Lucian stated.

"Do you know the game of chess?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes," Lucian answered.

"The game is all about checkmating the other king," Cynthia said. "It is worth giving up any piece you have if it results in victory. There are some pieces that must be sacrificed in order for us to achieve our goal. And, Lucian, don't you wish more than anything else for me to be happy?"

Lucian sighed. "Yes, Queen Cynthia," he stated.

"She realizes that she is just a piece on the board which must sacrifice itself for us to achieve checkmate," Cynthia continued. "Thus she will stand in the way in order to prevent the opposing forces from gaining victory."

"But why… why can't you just take her with us?" Lucian asked.

"We need to buy time," Cynthia responded. "She will buy us all the necessary time in order for us to… you know."

"But I still don't understand," Lucian continued. "Come on, Cynthia, be a little blunter."

Cynthia sighed heavily. "All right, Lucian, you want me to tell you everything, fine, here, I will," she said with a touch of anger in her voice. "But then you must promise me that you will not fight me on it any longer."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"If she does not provide a distraction to the opposing forces, then they will have nothing to attack. They will realize that I have escaped, and they will follow us and find us," Cynthia explained.

"That's the part I don't understand," Lucian responded. "How will they know that we have gone to Mt. Coronet?"

"We need an entire day for the process to take place," Cynthia explained. "If they realize I have escaped, there will be an entire country of people sprawling all over Sinnoh, trying to find me. And you do realize that it will take only one small distraction in order to ruin the process."

"But Diane doesn't look enough like you!" Lucian protested. "And they'll surely look for me!"

"Not with the process that my wonderful sister has planned," Cynthia stated. "Diane will surround the entire throne room with dark mist, and when they storm into the throne room, ready to attack whoever is in there, she will create a gigantic black hole, sucking up everything and everyone inside, including herself. The survivors will realize that there is no possible way I could have escaped, seeing that everything has been sucked up."

"There is a flaw in your reasoning, I hate to tell you," Lucian replied. "They know you can teleport, perhaps you just teleported away before unleashing your dark powers. Then they search for you anyway."

"Lucian, didn't I tell you the room would be surrounded with dark mist?" Cynthia asked. "There will be so much of it that it would be impossible for even me to teleport away, and they will realize it. How could someone create a black hole from the inside of a place surrounded by dark mist, then manage to teleport away before getting sucked in themselves? It is not possible, not even for me. It will take a sacrifice of someone's life. That person's life is my sister's."

"So then what happens, once your sister has sacrificed herself?" Lucian questioned.

"Then the survivors mourn their losses but celebrate the fact that I am dead," Cynthia responded. "And thus I am able to complete my process at the Spear Pillar."

Lucian sighed. "Your reasoning is very complete, but one thing is missing," he said. "You assume that no one will come to Mt. Coronet as long as Diane makes her sacrifice. What if, suppose someone does come to the Spear Pillar anyway? Wouldn't that ruin everything, and cost your sister's life as well?"

"That's the final key," Cynthia stated. "You know that we are using the Adamant Orb, correct?"

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"I have broken off a small piece of the Adamant Orb," Cynthia answered. "That piece I have given to Diane. When she sacrifices herself, she will swallow it whole, creating a barrier around the Spear Pillar. That means we must be inside the area of the Spear Pillar before it is swallowed whole. It must take a large black hole in order to swallow up even just a small piece of that orb and create the barrier. In addition, according to the legends in order for a barrier to be created around the Spear Pillar, the owner of the Adamant Orb must be swallowed up with it. So she creates that black hole, swallows it up, and the barrier is created, since she is the owner of that piece of the Adamant Orb."

Lucian smiled. "I love you," he said. "You must have read very many legends to come up with all this information."

"I have, Lucian," Cynthia replied. "The only reason why I know my plan will work is because I have read the legends carefully enough that everything will go perfectly. The only caveat is that my sister must sacrifice her life, but she is willing to do so for my sake. It is so very virtuous of her to do such a thing. Now, Lucian, please go get Roy, for we must leave."

Lucian went into the room where Diane was taking care of Roy to get his son. A few minutes later, he came back to Cynthia, holding Roy, with Diane next to him.

"Queen Sister," Diane said, bowing.

"Princess Diane," Cynthia replied.

"I refuse!" Diane shouted. "I will not sacrifice my life in order to achieve your plan! What do I have to gain from it? It is only for your personal glory and power! I hereby abdicate my position as princess, as I refuse to obey your orders any more!"

She took off her crown and threw it at the base of Cynthia's throne.

"Sorry, Queen Sister, I'm afraid we go our separate ways today," Diane stated.

"Very well, Diane," Cynthia replied.

As Diane turned to walk out of the room, Cynthia held out her hand, launching out some dark power at her sister, and Diane fell to the floor in pain.

"You have no choice, girl," Cynthia stated. "You will sacrifice your life for me, or I will torture you until you die."

Cynthia began attacking her sister with dark attack after dark attack, and Diane cried in agony.

"It's your choice, girl, die here as pathetic as you are right now, or die with honor," Cynthia said. "Either way, you will die."

Diane simply cried on the ground in pain.


	26. Marking Time, Waiting for Death

Chapter 26

Marking Time, Waiting for Death

Cynthia continued to torture her sister with her dark attacks. Diane cried out helplessly, hoping her sister would have mercy, but it was of no use. Finally, after Diane thought that the only way for it to stop was to go along with the plan, Cynthia paused, reading her sister's mind.

"So, you will sacrifice your life for my sake? Thank you so much," Cynthia stated.

"Some queen you'll be," Diane muttered, as Lucian helped her up from the ground.

"There was only one woman in this family chosen as royalty, and that was me," Cynthia said. "You just were never cut out to be royalty."

"So all that talk about me being princess… it was all a lie," Diane said between tears.

"It was," Cynthia replied. "But that is no longer of any concern. As of tomorrow, I will be the one who decides what is morally right and wrong, for I shall be all-powerful."

Diane simply sighed. "I wish you luck, Queen Sister," she said.

"Thank you," Cynthia responded.

Cynthia and Lucian then teleported away with Roy, leaving Diane alone in the throne room. She hopped on top of the throne and sat upon it, holding on to the piece of the Adamant Orb that her sister gave her.

_Why was I called to be the sacrificial lamb of the family?_ she wondered. _Why is Cynthia so much more special than me?_

She began counting the seconds until her imminent death…

* * *

It grew closer to the time of the attack on Cynthia's palace. Karen had managed to gather not only 100 or so Team Rocket members, but over a thousand Sinnoh citizens. They were all set to storm the Sinnoh League headquarters, waiting for Karen to give the signal.

"Today, we free Sinnoh from Cynthia's reign, and give liberty to all Sinnoh citizens!" Karen screamed.

The people roared in approval, then Karen sent them inside the palace, making sure she sent the Sinnoh citizens first.

The Sinnoh citizens rushed in, with their Pokémon ready to battle, and they came up to Cynthia's throne, where her sister sat waiting.

"Hello!" she said, before creating a dark mist which surrounded all of them. They sent their Pokémon at her full force, but she deflected them easily with her dark attacks.

"Is this Cynthia or a younger version of her?" the people asked.

"I'm her sister, and I will defend her throne," Diane stated. "You will all die!"

She began creating a black hole, which began to suck the Pokémon of the Sinnoh citizens inside. The people began to be sucked inside as well, and they cried out in terror.

"Now, you go in!" Karen shouted to the Team Rocket members.

"Hold on a second," Silver said to Karen. "What about you?"

"I'm the leader of this operation!" Karen yelled. "I give the orders!"

"Well, we're staying out here until you go in!" Gold shouted back.

"Come on losers, get in there, or Cynthia will get away!" Karen screamed.

"No way!" Whitney shouted.

Meanwhile, the Sinnoh citizens tried in vain to escape Diane's black hole. The piece of the Adamant Orb was sucked up, leaving one thing for her to do: give up her own life.

"Queen Sister," Diane said, "this is for you."

She then closed her eyes and let out every bit of her dark powers, and soon the entire inside of the building was sucked into one large black hole, including every person who had entered it. The Team Rocket members saw this and ran away in fear. Karen simply stood there, stunned.

_This wasn't how I thought it would end, Cynthia,_ Karen thought. _But you chose this ending, to kill your own people in death, so congratulations._

Karen still had no clue that it was Cynthia's sister who had indeed sucked in all the Sinnoh people who attacked.

* * *

Cynthia and Lucian stood before the Spear Pillar, where she held the Adamant Orb. She placed it in its correct spot, and the ground began to shake. Lucian fell over in fear as the great beast Dialga appeared before them.

"Relax, Lucian," Cynthia stated.

Dialga then made a full-force attack with its Roar of Time against Cynthia. She simply created a black hole and began to absorb every bit of the attack.

"Cynthia, you'll die!" Lucian screamed.

"That's _Queen_ Cynthia to you, boy," Cynthia replied.

Cynthia continued to absorb the attack, taking in all of the power into her body. No person should be able to survive such an attack, but Cynthia's dark powers made it possible to absorb the power of Dialga's attack into her body and turn it into her own. Slowly but surely she was taking all of Dialga's powers from it. This went on for a 24-hour period, where Dialga just attacked nonstop, and she absorbed its powers constantly, while Lucian watched in terror, before falling asleep.

* * *

Television crews rushed to site of the Sinnoh League Headquarters, wanting to find out about what they had begun to hear from some of the Team Rocket members who went to rest in Sunyshore City. They arrived there to find Karen and several Team Rocket members, standing outside a deserted building.

"Cynthia is dead," Karen confirmed to the reporters. "Unfortunately, she took hundreds of trainers' lives with her in her last moments."

"Are you sure?" the reporters asked. "For all we know, she could have escaped…"

"Trust me! There's no one that powerful who could have managed to kill that many people from the inside!" Karen shouted. "And not even she could have teleported through a dark mist of that sort!"

"Would you deem your plan a success?" the reporters questioned.

"Absolutely!" Karen exclaimed. "We have removed the biggest threat in the history of your land. Now you can all live in peace!"

She then smiled evilly.

"Though I believe new leadership for Sinnoh is in order…"

* * *

Liza appeared in Will and Sabrina's mansion, just as they were about eat their dinner. Sabrina sighed heavily.

"Why do you always choose to show up at times like these?" she asked.

"Sabrina, it's urgent!" Liza exclaimed. "I just had a vision that Cynthia is going to kill you!"

"Well, what does it matter?" Will asked sarcastically. "If that's the future, what can we do to change it? We just have to accept fate."

His words echoed the very same ones Liza had spoken earlier, when she had given her excuse for not telling about her other visions.

"But I'm serious!" Liza yelled. "We have to do something!"

"What can we do?" Sabrina replied. "Did your vision tell us how she's going to do it?"

"All I know is that she will be able to kill you as long as she knows you're alive," Liza said.

"Then the only way to escape is by hiding, but there's no way to hide from a psychic," Sabrina responded.

"So we just hope my vision doesn't come true?" Liza asked. "That's not the way I expected you to respond. I thought you'd care about your own life more than this!"

"I do care about my own life, but your visions are very vague," Sabrina answered. "What am I supposed to do about something that you can only see somewhat?"

Will looked thoughtful. "I know what we can do," he said.

Sabrina gave him a look of disgust. "Will, what can you possibly come up with that Cynthia won't see through?" she asked. "There's no way I can just go into hiding. We have to either fight or die… or hope Liza's wrong."

Will pulled out a ball out of his pocket.

"A Pokémon battle?" Sabrina asked.

"No, even better," Will replied. "This is the prototype Super Ball… I was able to secure it today."

"You mean the ball that captures humans?" Liza asked.

"Yes," Will said. "We're going to use this ball to win this war with Cynthia."

Sabrina looked dumbfounded. "I thought you said anyone can easily escape that ball if they want to," she stated.

"Of course," Will replied. "We're not going to use it on Cynthia… we're going to hide you in it."

Sabrina gave Will a look of disgust.

"As if that's going to work," she said.

"What other choice do we have?" Will asked. "Fighting her is not an option, you've seen what's happened in the past. But if you hide in this ball, she'll never know where you are."

"And what's it like in that ball?" Sabrina asked.

"It's like you're asleep," Will replied, "but with even a thought that you want to escape it, you will."

"So I've got to go into that thing and not even think about escaping?" Sabrina questioned.

"That's right," Will said, "and I'll release you when the time is right."

"Great idea," Sabrina replied.

"So you'll do it?" Will asked.

"Of course I won't! You're crazy!" Sabrina shouted, getting up from the table.

"Sabrina, I'm only looking out for you!" Will protested.

"Oh, sure you are," Sabrina said. "You want me to hide in that ball while you go off kissing other women, right?"

"I promise you, I will not kiss another woman while you are inside that ball," Will said.

Sabrina grinned. "You even do a hint of something like that, and you'll be bowing down and calling me queen for the rest of your life," she said.

"There's nothing to worry about," Will said. "Now, come on, it's time to hide, before this vision comes true."

Sabrina walked over to Will, ready to kiss him.

"You promise me you'll release me at a safe time?" Sabrina asked.

"I promise," Will replied.

Sabrina kissed Will on the lips. After the kiss, Will threw the ball at her, catching her inside. He then picked up the ball and kissed it.

"I'll take good care of you, Sabrina," he said.

* * *

After the 24-hour period was over, Cynthia was through with sucking up all of Dialga's powers. She then used every bit of power she had to swallow the giant beast right into the black hole that she had created.

Lucian woke up, hearing Dialga's final roar. He then looked up at his wife, who had the most innocent smile on her face.

"It's all over," Cynthia stated. "I am now the most powerful woman in the world."

"How so?" Lucian asked, in confusion.

Cynthia twitched a finger, and Lucian went flying across the plateau. He struggled to even get up on his feet, as he had been hit with such force.

"Couldn't you do that before?" he asked her.

"I think you need to show proper respect," Cynthia replied.

She simply bent her index finger, and Lucian fell flat on his face before her.

"Okay, I believe you!" Lucian yelled.

"I'm afraid you don't yet," Cynthia said. She stretched out her finger, and Lucian immediately went into convulsions of pain.

"Queen Cynthia, I believe you, I believe you, please just stop!" Lucian exclaimed.

"Very well then, boy," Cynthia replied, and his pain immediately subsided.

Lucian looked up at her from his position on the ground. "What are you going to do with such power?" he asked her.

"Two things: become queen of the world…" she stated, "and… live forever."

Lucian looked bewildered.

"You see, Lucian, I just swallowed the guardian of time into my body. I shall now never age, never grow old. I will remain in my perfect beauty forever," she explained. "Even more, I will use my power to make every human being bow down before me, whether they want to or not. Feel privileged to be married to the new queen of the world!"

She then twitched her finger again, and Lucian's face hit the ground.

"Yes, Queen Cynthia!" he cried, fearing for his life.

* * *

A girl opened her eyes, finding herself in an unknown place. She could not care less that she was completely lost. She was alive. And now she had an ability that she never knew she had before. Now she only hoped to use it, in a way that would be most satisfying.


	27. Her Majesty

Chapter 27

Her Majesty

Among all the commotion in Sunyshore City with Team Rocket's members staying there after their attack on Cynthia's castle was Karen, who firmly believed that Cynthia had killed herself as well as hundreds of Sinnoh trainers who came to attack her. She was now ready to make her move, one which she had long awaited, on national television.

"Today we have Karen here, the woman who has orchestrated the defeat of former Queen Cynthia," an announcer said. "Miss Karen, we wish to know your opinion of the direction of Sinnoh."

"Sinnoh is a wonderful country, one that needs correct leadership," Karen said. "I don't think there was anything wrong with a queen running the show, it was the woman who made herself the queen who was the problem."

"So you truly believe there should still be a queen, just one who cares more about our country as a whole?" the announcer asked.

"Absolutely! The right woman should be chosen as the queen of Sinnoh, a woman who truly cares about this great land, not one like your previous queen, who cared little that her own gym leaders were captured by those of us who merely meant to set them free," Karen replied.

The announcer tried to get her head around Karen's circular reasoning, but before she could do anything, a figure appeared before the both of them. Whether she could be described as the most beautiful woman in the world or the scariest sight ever was up to the eye of the beholder. Lucian would probably consider her both, but as for the announcer and Karen, they both shook in fear as Cynthia walked before both of them, reaching out her finger. Immediately both dropped to the ground before her.

"Good morning, Sinnoh," Cynthia spoke to the camera. "I am your queen, Cynthia, and you will treat me as such. I now have power like never before, and you shall soon see it."

Team Rocket members Silver, Jasmine, Gold and Whitney were watching this at a hotel in Sunyshore City, shocked to see Cynthia alive and well… except for Silver.

"I knew she wouldn't have killed herself," Silver muttered. "Karen was only fooling herself."

"Now," Cynthia continued to speak to the camera, "I ask – no, I demand – for all of you watching this right now to drop to your knees and bow down before me."

Jasmine and Whitney immediately knelt down and bowed before the television set, while Silver and Gold just watched without making a motion.

"Come on, what can she do to us from here?" Silver asked.

Cynthia then snapped her fingers. Instantly Silver and Gold dropped to the ground in severe pain.

"What happened?" Jasmine shrieked.

"I don't know, but I'm in pain!" Silver shouted.

"She can attack people from far away now, apparently!" Whitney cried. "I don't believe this!"

Cynthia smiled at the screen. "Don't worry, your pain will subside in about an hour," she stated. "That's for all of you who refused to bow to your queen."

"Is she speaking only to us, or to everyone?" Gold wondered.

"I believe she now has some sort of ultimate power," Whitney replied. "I don't understand it myself."

"Now that I've made my power plain and clear for all of you to know, I will issue a demand, from all of you in Sinnoh," Cynthia continued. "Every single human being in the land of Sinnoh is to make the journey to the top of Mt. Coronet, to the place called the Spear Pillar. There the finest builders of this land will go to work on building me a new castle, one where I can rule over all of you. Bring gold – as much as there is in this land. Your queen deserves everything you have, all your effort, all your gold, all your respect. There, in front of my majesty on Mt. Coronet, every person in the land of Sinnoh shall bow down before me. I am your queen, and you are my people. You will do as I say."

"She can't be serious, can she?" a still-hurting Silver asked.

"I will bring in Lucian to demonstrate how a citizen must treat his queen," Cynthia stated. "Come here, Lucian."

Lucian came before Cynthia, approaching her slowly, then suddenly dropped to his knees and bowed his head all the way to the ground, his face touching the floor. "Your majesty, Queen Cynthia," he said. "What do you wish of me?"

"And remember, Lucian is my husband," Cynthia stated. "I expect no less respect from him than I do from all of you."

Lucian began to get up, but Cynthia pointed to the ground, so he remained with his head facing the floor.

"I did not tell you that you may rise, boy," Cynthia said. "You need to show more respect for your queen."

"I am sorry, your majesty, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"Now, as for the rest of you, you have one week to meet me at the top of Mt. Coronet, where you will show me the proper respect I deserve as well as build me the castle I also deserve," Cynthia stated. "Any human being in the land of Sinnoh that does not reach the top of the mountain in one week shall die, no matter what the circumstances. I warn you since I am a merciful queen."

"How dare you do this to us again!" Karen screamed from the ground, where Cynthia's power was so much that she did not even have enough energy to pull herself off the floor. "You used to be a respectable woman, now you treat the people of this land as if they are nothing!"

"I expect you at the Spear Pillar too," Cynthia told Karen. "Since I am a merciful queen and since we have been longtime friends, I will have mercy on you right now and allow you to live until then."

"Oh, just kill me if you're so powerful!" Karen shouted. "I have no wishes to live under the rule of such a cruel woman, who doesn't care about her own people!"

"You were going to make yourself the new queen of Sinnoh, assuming my death," Cynthia stated. "The only difference between you and me is our power… oh, and I guess my extraordinary beauty."

"Why don't you demonstrate your power to them right now, your utter cruelty?" Karen asked. "Kill me, Cynthia, I dare you!"

Cynthia snapped her fingers, causing Karen to go into convulsions of severe pain.

"I will never kill my friend," Cynthia stated. "However, I will make you treat me with the rightful respect I deserve as queen."

Karen simply cried. Here she was, rolling on the ground on the set of a TV studio, in severe pain, being tortured by her former friend and now-queen.

"So, I give you all a week," Cynthia said. "If you refuse to come to Mt. Coronet, you will die. I wish for all of you to live, though, so that I may have as many people as possible bow down before me. Bring all the materials you can, for my castle should match my power."

* * *

Reports of Cynthia's return to power surfaced over the other lands, where people became quickly concerned. Did a woman seriously cause people to go into pain just by refusing to bow before her image on a TV screen?

"That's impossible," Giselle stated. "No human being is that powerful."

"But it happened," Joe said. "It couldn't have been just coincidence."

"You know what I think?" Giselle commented. "I think that the people over there are trying to pull the wool over our eyes… they're trying to scare us."

"Well, it's worked, I'm scared," Joe said.

Lorelei and Lance walked into the room to meet with Giselle and Joe. Giselle crossed her arms angrily.

"What do you two want?" she asked.

"We're extremely concerned with this power Cynthia has… it's beyond human," Lorelei stated.

"How so?" Giselle asked. "I can do… this!"

She reached out her arm, about to create a black hole, before Joe grabbed her wrist.

"No, Giselle, no playing with dark powers inside," he scolded her like a father would scold his daughter.

"Giselle, we have reason to believe that Cynthia has gained the powers of a legendary Pokémon into her own body," Lance stated.

"What?" Giselle shouted. "You people are crazy!"

She turned to walk away, but Joe grabbed her before she could go.

"Listen to them, they aren't dumb," Joe said.

"Giselle, there are some powers a human being can have, but the powers of most Pokémon go far beyond even our best powers," Lorelei said. "Lance and I have our own powers, but compared to a Pokémon, we are still quite weak. Cynthia's powers go beyond what even a Pokémon could do."

"Except, perhaps, a legendary Pokémon," Lance stated.

"Oh, here we go," Giselle stated. "Look, do you want me to recite the names and numbers of every Pokémon? And I can tell you the statistics and powers of every single one… and I will let you know for sure that none of them have that power."

Lorelei ignored her. "She spoke of Spear Pillar, the very place where several legendary Pokémon have been said to reside," she stated. "Is it possible that she acquired the powers of one of those such Pokémon?"

Giselle shrugged her shoulders. "You do realize that thanks to my Pokémon, the Pokémon Palkia was prevented from causing great disaster to the land of Sinnoh," she said. "Without me, Sinnoh would be nothing right now."

"Who called you to stop Palkia?" Lance questioned, fully knowing the answer of his own question.

"None other than the so-called queen herself, Cynthia," Giselle said. "She wanted Palkia stopped, not to gain its powers. If she wanted its powers, she could have easily obtained them right there, couldn't she?"

Lorelei shook her head. "No, it would take a very long period of time to obtain them," she replied. "Our theory is that she used your battle with Palkia to judge how she would have to go about gaining the powers of another such powerful Pokémon… such as Dialga."

"I smashed that orb, that meant Palkia could never come back!" Giselle exclaimed.

"Yes, and there were two orbs," Lance explained. "She must have gotten her hands on the second one."

Giselle crossed her arms restlessly. "So, what is this all about?" she asked. "Are you trying to say it's my fault or something. Okay, it's all my fault! Blame it on the champion! There, does it make you feel better?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "Giselle, all we're trying to do is figure out what we need to do to prevent the entire world from being forced to bow down to Cynthia," he said.

"I don't care if I die, I shall never bow my head or knee before anyone!" Giselle shouted.

Joe flinched at even the thought of his beloved girlfriend dying, but Lorelei simply crossed her arms at Giselle.

"If Cynthia does indeed have the power of Dialga, which is the very power of time, that means that she could stop from aging and potentially live forever," Lorelei stated. "There aren't many Pokémon that could possibly stand up against Dialga or do a thing against that sort of power."

"Then we're doomed," Giselle said in a joking manner. "Oh, well, I'm still the champion, so who cares?"

Joe slapped his hand over his face. "Giselle, she'll kill you if you don't bow before her, is that what you want?" he asked.

"Oh, come on, I fought this woman once and saved everyone's butts, you want me to do it again? Is that what this is all about?" Giselle questioned.

"You know, for a scholar, you sure are stupid," Lance said. "I thought you were the right person to turn to. Apparently, I was wrong. The Elite Four will bring in a different expert to gather information about what we should do."

Giselle smirked. "What this will all come down to is me beating this woman with my Pokémon, which I most certainly will," she said. "I'm not worried one bit. You can all go and bow down to her. Joe, you too. I won't. I won't have to."

Joe walked away from Giselle and over to Lance and Lorelei. "Giselle, I'm going to help the Elite Four in getting some expert analysis on the situation," he said. "It's all I can do… to potentially save your life."

Giselle laughed out loud at that. "Oh, Joe, you're such a romantic!" she giggled.

* * *

"So, Cynthia is now unbelievably powerful?" Will asked Liza.

"That's what the TV reports say," Liza replied. "She can hurt a person merely by wishing it to happen."

"That means if she knew Sabrina was alive, she'd kill her instantly," Will replied.

"Well, with Sabrina hidden, you don't have to worry about that," Liza said. "See, everything's fine, you're a genius, Will!"

"Yeah, what good does it do to be a genius if I can't figure out a way for Sabrina to live her life normally, without dying," Will grumbled. "All I want is for her to be able to live in freedom, not to be forced to stay inside a ball the rest of her life."

He sighed heavily.

"Sabrina, I will figure out what to do to rescue you," Will said to the Super Ball containing his wife. "I promise you, on my life."

He kissed the ball, then placed it back on his belt.

"Hey, those other predictions of mine haven't come true yet!" Liza exclaimed. "You remember what they were?"

"No, not exactly," Will replied.

"Well, maybe if they haven't come true, and Sabrina hasn't died, maybe they were all wrong, and maybe we have nothing to worry about!" Liza said. "Maybe Cynthia isn't going to do all that awful stuff we feared!"

"Or maybe…" Will stated. "Maybe she's going to do much worse."


	28. SHIRONA!

Chapter 28

SHIRONA!

A week passed, and Cynthia sat upon a throne Lucian had built for her on top of Mt. Coronet. Many people from the land of Sinnoh began to arrive, having heard and feared Cynthia's words. Yet one visitor was more surprising than all the rest… Cynthia's little sister Diane.

"Queen Sister," Diane said, bowing.

"My sister," Cynthia replied. "I knew you would live."

"Queen Sister, you forced me to risk my life for you, and that's all you have to say?" Diane asked.

"Diane, I only made you risk your life because I knew that you had been born with the same powers as I," Cynthia responded. "I knew that you could escape if you truly wanted to. Thanks to you, my plan is complete, and today you shall see the fruits of my plan."

"Queen Sister, at least let me have my position back as princess, then," Diane said. "I sacrificed everything for you, I deserve something for it."

"I'm sorry, but you chose to abdicate your throne," Cynthia replied. "Had you chose to obey me without question, then I would be happy to have you rule beside me. Instead, you shall bow with the rest of the… ordinary citizens."

Cynthia pointed to the people who were arriving to the top of Mt. Coronet, and sent Diane away. Diane hung her head as she walked away, wishing her own sister was not so cruel.

* * *

After a certain time, Cynthia knew that every person who was going to come to the mountain had arrived, so she addressed the large crowd. There were tens of thousands of people just sprawling all over the mountaintop, cramped together. Each and every one of them was there for one reason, and one reason only: they feared their queen.

"Citizens of Sinnoh, your queen welcomes you to Spear Pillar, the home of your queen's new castle," Cynthia spoke. "You should all be happy that you came today. Do not worry about those who stayed home. When you go back to your hometowns, you will find that they have all received the same fate: death. Do not even feel a hint of grief over their deaths, though, since they were enemies to your queen, and your queen comes first to you."

Lucian rose an eyebrow, standing next to his wife's throne. Was Cynthia so proud now that she chose to speak only in the third person?

"Now, what you all came for," Cynthia continued. "Your queen shall snap her fingers, and when she does, you shall all drop to your knees and bow your heads, face down to the ground. You shall remain in this position until your queen tells you that you may rise."

She gave a slight smile.

"And any of you who refuses to bow, or lifts his or her head before your queen gives you the word, shall die immediately," Cynthia added.

She snapped her fingers. Instantly the sea of people all dropped to their knees and bowed their heads, placing their faces to the ground. Cynthia looked over the mass of people and smiled.

"I am Queen Cynthia!" she screamed.

She then pointed at Lucian, and Lucian stepped in front of Cynthia's throne and bowed down before her. He put his face to the ground right before the base of Cynthia's throne, and she gently placed her high heels on his head.

"Queen Cynthia," Lucian said solemnly.

Cynthia then began to laugh hysterically. It was the laugh of a mad woman, someone who had lost her mind. She no longer had any restrictions on her power, she was free to do whatever she wanted. She felt like taking advantage of her power by instantly killing a few dozen people who even flinched their heads.

Meanwhile, she looked down at her husband, sprawled out on the ground before her. His head served as her footstool. Once the two were made equal in marriage, now there was no comparison between them. She was the all-powerful queen of Sinnoh, he was merely an object.

For half an hour she sat there and laughed, thinking about the lowliness of Lucian and her immense power. The people just breathed in and out, their noses sunk into the dirt, feeling like nothing more than ants in front of an all-powerful woman. Finally she spoke the word "Rise," and the immense number of people slowly got up from the ground and looked up at their queen. Lucian also wiggled his way up, feeling as if he had lost all his dignity.

"Now, you shall build the queen's castle," Cynthia said. "Anyone with any sort of building ability must take part. Your queen shall give you all the orders on how to build her palace and her throne. If you as a people fail to build the queen's castle exactly how she wants it, you all shall die!"

She only gave this as a threat, for she enjoyed watching people bow more than she enjoyed killing them, although she did not mind killing off several of those who did not enjoy working for her.

And so the work on Cynthia's palace began, continuing on for several months, until the most amazing, beautiful castle anyone had ever seen was built. Its walls were made of pure gold, as was her throne. The citizens of Sinnoh wondered what would be done in their own towns, now that almost all of their precious materials and minerals had been used in creating such a gorgeous palace. Yet they had no choice; for to go against Cynthia's wishes was to die.

After the castle was built, Cynthia sent the people home, with many of them starving. Not nearly enough food had been brought to the mountaintop, and even those who were sent back and forth to bring food could not bring nearly enough. She gave no concern, however; all that she cared about was sitting on her tall golden throne, with the black cushions that the people gave her to sit upon. Finally, she was living the true life of a queen. She had everything she wanted… or did she?

Before leaving the mountain, some of the Team Rocket members who had helped build the castle, including Silver, Gold, Whitney, Jasmine and Karen, overheard rumors that Cynthia intended on doing a similar thing to the people of Kanto, Johto and Hoenn, embarrassing them before possibly killing many more of them. As they left the mountain, with Karen's dark mist preventing Cynthia from reading their thoughts, they knew something drastic had to be done. The first place the five of them flew to on Jasmine's Skarmory was the Indigo League headquarters building, where they hoped someone could give them advice… otherwise there would be many more casualties and the potential crippling of the Pokémon world's economy, seeing that so much had been given to Cynthia.

* * *

When hearing the panics of the Johto trainers, champion Giselle gave little concern. The only thing on her mind was the Pokémon League tournament – as long as that would go on, then life as she knew it was fine.

"You idiot!" Karen screamed. "Do you realize that the people of Sinnoh are now living in poverty! That queen has taken their money, their gold, their jewelry – she's taken every luxury they had, and thrown it into her castle! You do realize that every book from every library was taken and put into her castle! These people are going to go illiterate! How can you just sit here and not care? She plans on doing it to Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and who knows what other lands. She's going to make this entire world bow at her feet and slowly die."

"Giselle," Silver said solemnly, "if Cynthia were to be able to read our thoughts right now, we would all die."

"Thankfully my dark mist is enough that it stops her from reading the thoughts of anyone in this building," Karen stated. "This situation is so severe that if someone does not figure a way of neutralizing Cynthia's power – this entire world will slowly wither away until there are none left but her."

Giselle crossed her arms. Was she worried? No, she wasn't worried, not a bit, right? There was nothing to be concerned about, right?

"Oh, all right!" she screamed. "What can I do?"

"We respect you enough that we feel you're one of the few who could rescue us," Gold said.

Giselle began to giggle. "Who am I, but a girl with great Pokémon skills?" she said, in one of the most humble things she had ever spoken. "You're expecting me to save the world!"

Silver looked at Jasmine with shock. "Oh no," he said. "If even Giselle doesn't think she can do anything, we all ought to just give up."

The Elite Four then entered the room, with an extra person following behind them.

"There is hope for us," Lorelei stated. "A person of great wisdom has given us the advice we need – this person knows exactly what we need to do to stop Cynthia."

Giselle looked over to see this person. It was a professor, right? Most likely Professor Oak, or maybe even Professor Elm… but no, this was no old man… it was a woman. A woman, who in fact, looked very similar to her. It was none other than…

"Roxanne," Joe said. "She is a great scholar who has the one key to stopping Cynthia."

Giselle bristled at the name. Wasn't this the very woman who had sort-of flirted with Joe? But then, Giselle remembered, she got a boyfriend. His name was… what was it?

"So, how are things with…" Giselle began to say.

"We broke up," Roxanne cut Giselle off. "Brawly and I are through."

Roxanne then stood right in front of Giselle, taking her position in the middle of the room.

"Since my breakup with my boyfriend, I have devoted my life to the study of great and wonderous Pokémon," Roxanne stated. "Over time I have begun to figure out mysteries that not even the great professors knew. For example, I figured out last month that it was possible for a person with great dark powers to be able to suck in the powers of a legendary Pokémon. That apparently is what our foe Cynthia has done."

Giselle tried cutting off Roxanne to tell her that Lorelei and Lance had already figured that, but Roxanne simply continued.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a Pokémon out there that not only can help us, but it is one that is more powerful than Cynthia could ever imagine to be," Roxanne said. "Not only that, but if it were able to communicate with us, it would care about our problems and fix them all instantaneously."

Giselle rolled her eyes. A Pokémon that cared about humans for no reason?

"It is the great Arceus, the Pokémon that created the legendaries of Sinnoh," Roxanne continued. "It surely cares about our troubles, if we could only reach it."

Giselle almost laughed out loud. She had learned about Arceus at Pokémon Tech, but what was Arceus but a myth? People were fools for believing in Arceus, she thought. They believed in a Pokémon with supposedly the powers to create lands and other Pokémon… ridiculous.

"Arceus cares about our very needs, we just can't communicate between each other," Roxanne said.

"Then what's the use?" Giselle cut her off. "If we can't communicate with this Pokémon, why even bother?"

"There is a way," Roxanne replied thoughtfully. "Legends say –"

"Legends!" Giselle shouted. "You believe in legends! You are stupider than I thought! Come on, anyone here actually believe this nutty professor?"

The other nine people in the room – the Elite Four and the five Johto trainers – continued to stare at Roxanne intently, like she had cast a spell on them. Giselle became silent and allowed Roxanne to continue.

"Excuse me," Roxanne said. "Legends say that Arceus wished for humans to find it someday, and its wish was that for in the great time of need, it would make the Azure Flute available. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that today is the great time of need, and that the Azure Flute will appear in the Island of Obscurity, where the legend says it will appear in that day."

Giselle laughed this time. "Island of Obscurity?" she asked. "There's no such thing!"

"If this is the great time of need, then that island will become visible to the people who Arceus wishes to find it – and only the people whom Arceus wishes to find it," Roxanne continued. "The legends say all we must do is search diligently, and we will find it."

With the other nine people having such an intent look on their face, taking in Roxanne's word like it was gospel, Giselle became angry. "How do you know we are Arceus' 'chosen ones'?" she asked. "You act like Arceus knows who we are, and what we need."

"It does," Roxanne replied.

Giselle covered her mouth before laughing again. "Oh, so Arceus cares about some people, and not others," she reasoned. "So Arceus cares about the needs of Roxanne, but not the needs of say, Cynthia? What if Arceus actually wants to please everyone? Shouldn't Arceus give Cynthia what she wants too? You are a fool for believing such legends."

Roxanne became furious at Giselle. "Do you believe in anything?" she questioned Giselle.

"I thought we had freedom of beliefs," Giselle shot back. "In short, yes, I do, but that is not for you to know."

"She believes in herself," Joe stated, to laughs from the entire room.

Giselle gave Joe a death glare, but he continued to laugh with everyone else. At that moment, she knew something was wrong, but she decided to try to ignore the awful thoughts that were going through her head.

"So, anyway, look what I have here," Roxanne stated.

She took out a pearl.

"This pearl was saved by Sinnoh scholars of long ago, who found it at the ruins of the Spear Pillar," Roxanne said. "It was said to be left there by Arceus, to communicate with those it wished to eventually find it someday."

"I thought you said that was the Azure Flute," Giselle remarked. "What good is your belief if it changes every few minutes?"

"Excuse me, champion, but I was not finished," Roxanne snapped. "I meant to say that this pearl was left there to tell the people who found it that they had the ability to find the Island of Obscurity and the Azure Flute."

"And how do you know?" Giselle asked.

"Because there is one person in this world who has seen Arceus," Roxanne stated. "Her name is Carolina. There were rumors that she died, but in fact she and her husband were found alive in Celestic Town just last week. Somehow they not only survived the collapse of their house, but also Cynthia's wrath. No one understands how, because they were sure they were dead, but those who came to bury them were forced to go up to Mt. Coronet and bow before Cynthia. Apparently while everyone else was bowing to Cynthia, these two… they… they…"

"Spit it out, scholar!" Giselle screamed.

"I'm sorry, it's just such a emotional story…" Roxanne continued. "But they… literally came out of their coffins and then teleported to me."

"And why you?" Giselle questioned.

"I don't know, but they showed me the pearl, and it glowed," Roxanne said. "They said that the pearl would lead them to the chosen ones… and I am one of the chosen ones."

At that, Giselle stomped out of the room, not wanting to hear anymore. Roxanne continued to talk to the others, while Giselle ran down the halls of the Indigo League building. She found the Hall of Fame, opened it up with her special key, then locked herself inside. Then she began to rant to herself.

"My world has gone mad!" she screamed. "People are believing in myths and legends, they're coming back from the dead, they're trusting in a Pokémon to save them! What happened to life as I knew it?"

She rushed over to her three Pokémon League championship trophies and hugged them tightly.

"What happened to hard work and sacrifice?" Giselle asked. "What happened to succeeding by one's one talent, not whether you're a 'chosen one' or not? Has Cynthia thrown off the balance of this world that much?"

She then stared off into space, wondering what other garbage Roxanne was feeding the others. All she knew was this: no matter what would happen, she refused to bow down before Cynthia, and she refused to go along with Roxanne's crazy ideas. She would remain true to herself, no matter what the pressure.


	29. I'd Do Anything for Love

Chapter 29

I'd Do Anything for Love

Will woke up the next morning to a call on his videophone. Already having missed Sabrina's company for a month, he was feeling lonely, but he had the feeling that this call would be one that would finally allow him to set Sabrina free from her hiding place in the Super Ball.

How wrong he was.

It was a message from a man from Sinnoh, who had somehow gotten his number. This message told him to report to Mt. Coronet's Spear Pillar within the next day – or he would die.

Not wanting to test Cynthia's powers, he immediately gathered his things and teleported to a place in Sinnoh nearby Mt. Coronet, where then he made the long climb to the Spear Pillar (for a psychic barrier placed by Cynthia prevented anyone from directly teleporting to her castle).

He was amazed when he arrived to see such a giant, beautiful palace. The castle's golden walls reflected in the sunlight… it was utterly gorgeous. He could not believe that Cynthia had gotten people to build something this beautiful.

_It must have cost a fortune,_ he thought.

_Only about three trillion yen,_ a response came to him.

He recognized the voice immediately. It was Cynthia's voice, talking to him telepathically.

_Come inside, boy,_ she added.

He walked inside the castle, seeing Cynthia sitting on a throne made of solid gold. He looked up at her face, seeing her smiling ever so innocently.

"Bow," she commanded him.

Will immediately dropped to his knees and bowed his head before Cynthia.

"Queen Cynthia," he stated, "it is an honor to meet you here."

"Thank you, Will," Cynthia replied. "Please, tell me about your wife, Sabrina."

Will gulped.

"I can no longer sense her presence… so I assume she is dead," Cynthia added.

Will felt an immediate sigh of relief. But did this mean Cynthia could not read his mind and figure out that he was hiding Sabrina in a ball? He was doing all he could to block her from reading his mind, but surely it could not be enough…

"How did she die, Will?" Cynthia asked.

"It was from your attacks on her," Will said, looking up at Cynthia.

"Keep your head bowed," Cynthia commanded, and Will immediately bowed his head again.

"She felt such pain… it was terrible," Will said. "She was hurting so badly… and then… she died, in such agony."

Cynthia smiled evilly.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said. "I sense that you are blocking my mind, but since I cannot sense Sabrina's presence anywhere in the world, I must believe that you are telling me the truth."

Will breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rise, Will," Cynthia spoke, and Will got up from the ground and looked up at her slowly.

"Now, for the final proof of Sabrina's death…" she said, "kiss me."

Will looked down. Surely he could not kiss Cynthia, his wife's biggest rival!

"Never!" he shouted. "I made a promise to Sabrina… that I'd never kiss another woman as long as I live!"

"That promise shall come true," Cynthia stated, "as you shall die if you do not kiss me."

Will gulped. Surely Sabrina would not want him to sacrifice his life over something as simple as a kiss, or would she? After all, he had kissed Erika…

"As you wish, Queen Cynthia," Will said.

He then lifted his head up and gently kissed her on the lips. Cynthia frowned.

"No, that was not enough," she stated. "You must kiss me all-out."

_Doesn't she have Lucian?_ Will thought. _She really wants me to French kiss her?_

He had no choice, however, so he opened up his mouth and went into an all-out kiss with her. Feeling his tongue go into her mouth and his lips press up against hers, he realized that Cynthia was a much better kisser than Sabrina. He enjoyed the kiss fully, despite the fact that he did not love the woman he was kissing.

"Thank you, Will," Cynthia told him after the kiss. "I have all the proof now that Sabrina is dead. You may go home now."

Will felt totally ashamed of himself, but what could he do about it now? Sabrina would kill him if she found out how he felt about Cynthia's kissing abilities. He walked away in embarrassment, eventually teleporting back to his home in Saffron City.

Meanwhile, a pair of eyes watched the whole scene, through tears.

* * *

That night, Cynthia walked into her room, to see Lucian meet her on his knees, in tears.

"Please, Queen Cynthia, just kill me," Lucian begged. "It's my birthday today, and I ask for one present: my death."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Cynthia replied.

"You know why," Lucian said. "You were kissing another man today, and I can't take it anymore. I would rather die than live without your love."

"But Lucian, I do love you," Cynthia responded.

"You do not only love me, you just love other men as well. If you truly loved me, you would be loyal to me," Lucian stated.

Cynthia felt a bit taken aback. Lucian was actually standing up to her?

"So, please, just take my life, I do not wish to live anymore," Lucian said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Lucian," Cynthia replied. "I love you too much."

"You love me so much that you'll torture me, put me in great pain, embarrass me, use me as your footstool, force me to suffer, kiss other men… oh, just kill me!" Lucian screamed.

For once, Cynthia lost her feeling of self-importance. She felt truly sorry for Lucian, whom she had treated like utter garbage.

"I'm sorry, Lucian," Cynthia said.

"You're so sorry that you'll do it again, as soon as you've finished getting what you want out of me!" Lucian yelled. "Oh, just end my life, Queen Cynthia… I'd be honored to die at your feet."

Cynthia bent down and touched his chin. "Lucian, I… I…"

She paused for a second, gathering her emotions. "I will not treat you like this any longer. Instead, you will be known as King Lucian."

"Queen Cynthia, I do not wish to be king, I do not wish for you to bow before me," he said. "All I wish… is for you to love me and me only."

"King Lucian, I will not stop from making you king, it is my order," Cynthia replied. "We shall rule together, as equals."

She reached down and picked his head up.

"You shall no longer bow before me," she told him. "And I promise you, if I ever kiss another man, you may banish me from my own kingdom."

She kissed him again.

"You are my king, Lucian," Cynthia said. "I shall do whatever you please."

"But Queen Cynthia…" Lucian replied. "You are my queen. I shall do whatever you please."

Immediately they grabbed each other's faces and engaged in a long, passionate kiss. Never before had they kissed so passionately, it was as if they had fallen in love all over again.

"I promise you, Lucian, I shall give you whatever you want," Cynthia said. "I even tell you this: even though I may live forever, I will not. I promise you, Lucian, that if you ever die, I will immediately commit suicide."

"Don't talk like that, Queen Cynthia," Lucian said.

"But I can't live without you," Cynthia replied.

"Oh, Queen Cynthia," Lucian said, falling into her arms.

"Roy will be our little prince," Cynthia said, looking over at her sleeping infant.

She then grabbed Lucian's hand and led him over to their bed.

"Come on, King Lucian, let's have some fun," she said.

"As you wish, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

* * *

As they lay in bed together, she reached out to touch his glasses, but he pushed her hand away.

"I never take my glasses off, even when sleeping," Lucian said.

"But I wanted to look into your eyes," Cynthia replied.

"My vision is very poor," Lucian told her. "I could not even see you clearly even if you pressed your face right up against mine."

"Oh, Lucian!" she said, as he squeezed a very delicate portion of her body.

"That's King Lucian to you," he joked.

"Yes, your majesty," she replied.

They went into another kiss as they both touched each other's bodies. Finally, the two had fallen back in love again, their marriage renewed.

* * *

The next day, Cynthia led Lucian to a large room full of books. His eyes lit up upon seeing all of them.

"How did you get so many books?" he asked her.

"I demanded them," Cynthia replied. "This is my birthday present to you. It's your own personal library."

He kissed her. "Thank you, Queen Cynthia," he said.

He went to bow to her, but she reached out and picked his head up.

"The king does not bow to his queen," Cynthia stated.

"I'll miss bowing down to you, though," Lucian replied. "Because you're the only woman who deserves people to bow down to her."

Cynthia smiled. "We'll call this place 'Lucian's Library,'" she told him. "Every book here belongs to you. Enjoy it, Lucian."

She adjusted the crown on her head. "I suppose we need one of these for you," she said.

"No, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied. "I do not wish to be king… all I want is for you to love me."

He then gave her a smirk.

"It'll be our little secret, only at bedtime," he said.

"Well, you certainly are the king then," she replied with a smile.

The two giggled together like the young couple falling in love again that they were. Their relationship was healed, and Lucian felt meaning to his life all over again.

* * *

But off in Saffron City, a lonely man felt great guilt and sadness. He could not take it any longer, living alone. He just had to see Sabrina again… even if it meant her imminent death.


	30. Run to You

Chapter 30

Run to You

Liza visited Will in his home in Saffron City, where Will had gone several months without seeing his wife Sabrina. She was inside a Super Ball, which Will was convinced was the only way of hiding her presence from Cynthia, who had designs on killing Sabrina. However, he could not take being without her anymore. So he consulted Liza on advice on what to do.

"Just let her out!" Liza exclaimed.

"But then Cynthia will kill her!" Will replied.

"So what?" Liza joked.

"So-"

"Relax, I'm joking," Liza responded. "I figure though you've got to take a chance sometime… and this is that time."

"I guess so," Will said.

He then opened up the Super Ball, and Sabrina came out.

"Sabrina!" Will shouted.

"Will," Sabrina replied.

The two embraced each other before kissing.

"So, have you figured a way to stop Cynthia?" Sabrina asked.

She looked over to see the calendar, seeing that it was late in the month of June.

"I missed my birthday!" she screamed.

"Yeah, about that…" Will said.

"Will, what's been going on the last few months?" she asked.

"Nothing, really…" Will replied.

"So I stayed inside that ball for nothing?" Sabrina questioned.

"Look, Sabrina, I couldn't stand living without you anymore, that's why I let you out," Will said. "While you've been gone, Cynthia's basically become this unbelievable, unstoppable queen who forced the entire land of Sinnoh to bow down before her."

Sabrina stared at Will with anger. "So, I missed a few months of my life for what? Shouldn't she be killing me any second now, if your theory was true?"

"Look, I don't know what to do," Will said. "We're helpless."

"Helpless?" Sabrina asked. "Didn't you think to go get help from someone over this time?"

"Well, I-"

"I sure didn't marry you for your brains."

Liza held out Roxette to Sabrina. "Look, she wants to see her mother," Liza said.

Sabrina held her daughter happily. "I'm so happy to see you," she said.

She then gave a suspicious look to Will. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

Will stepped back, in a bit of surprise. "No, no, not at all!" he replied.

She gave Roxette back to Liza, while staring closely at her husband. "Come on, Will, spit it out," she said.

She tried reading his mind frantically, while he did everything he could to hide his thoughts from her.

"Um… happy belated birthday," he said.

"That's not going to be enough to weasel your way out of this one," Sabrina replied. "I _will_ find out what you're hiding."

"It's nothing, really," Will protested. "Please, let's just move on now."

Sabrina then thought of a way to get him to spill the beans. She began touching his face softly, then coming in closer, tantalizing him with her lips.

"Don't tease me like this!" he shouted.

She leaned in closer to kiss him, when suddenly it all came to her.

_Will opened up his mouth and went into an all-out kiss with Cynthia. Feeling his tongue go into her mouth and his lips press up against hers, he realized that Cynthia was a much better kisser than Sabrina. He enjoyed the kiss fully, despite the fact that he did not love the woman he was kissing._

"Sabrina…" Will said, as Sabrina pulled her face away from his.

In a flash, she slapped him across the face, then turned away and stomped out the front door of their house.

"She was going to kill me!" Will protested.

He rushed after her, trying to catch up to her. Liza just stood there, watching, holding Roxette and giggling.

* * *

Cynthia brought Lucian before her. He began to bow his head, but Cynthia quickly snapped her fingers at him.

"I told you not to bow to me, Lucian," Cynthia told him.

"But… I want to, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied. "My mind is still scarred from the sight of your bowing before me… I didn't deserve it."

"Oh, make up your mind, Lucian!" Cynthia exclaimed. "I thought… oh, let me just tell you about the issue at hand… Sabrina is alive."

"She's alive?" Lucian asked.

"Yes, and she will remain that way," Cynthia replied. "For now."

"Why? Just kill her!" Lucian shouted. "All our problems will be through… we'll be able to live together in peace, forever!"

"Patience, my dear Lucian," Cynthia replied. "For I have done great harm to her relationship with her husband, and I want to see how far it goes… if she suffers great emotional pain, it will be much worth it."

"But she must die," Lucian added.

"Don't worry, she will, but while she's living a life of turmoil and fear, I think I'll let her go for a while," Cynthia said. "Then, when she finally feels at peace, I'll just snap my fingers" – she snapped her fingers – "and she will die."

"Oh, Queen Cynthia, you are cruel," Lucian stated.

"Thank you, Lucian," Cynthia replied.

* * *

Will met Sabrina outside, where she was sitting on the ground, crying. He walked up to her, trying to comfort her, but she pushed him away.

"Sabrina… I'm sorry…"

"Will, I spent my birthday inside a ball… I've slept for three months… and you're off kissing the very woman who hates my soul!" Sabrina yelled.

"Sabrina, I-"

"There are some things you could have done that I would forgive… even if you kissed an honorable woman… but of all people, her!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Will asked indignantly. "She would have killed me if I hadn't kissed her. So, what, would you rather me be dead right now? What do you wish, Sabrina?"

"It's not just that you kissed her," Sabrina replied. "It was your thoughts while kissing her."

Will thought back to Cynthia's kiss. He could not deny it, he enjoyed that kiss… Cynthia was an amazing kisser…

"See, even now! You love her!"

"I don't love her, I just-"

"You fool, I wish you were dead! I have no place in my life for you!"

Will stood stunned. Sabrina had wished him dead. Was that the cost of kissing Cynthia?

"I've done all I could to save you, Sabrina," Will stated. "You're on your own now."

"Give me my daughter," Sabrina said. "I'm going to live with my parents."

"She's my flesh and blood," Will replied. "She shall live with me."

"Oh, come on, you'd break up over something like this?"

Liza appeared between the bickering couple, holding onto Roxette.

"I know Will well, Sabrina, he's agonized over that kiss," Liza said. "He wished so badly he had not kissed her, but he did – to save his own life."

"But what's this about him enjoying the kiss?" Sabrina asked. "What about that?"

"Sabrina, I didn't ever love her for a moment, I just… oh, I couldn't help it!" Will exclaimed.

"Sabrina, perhaps you need to think of your own relationship… with Gary," Liza added.

"Wait a minute… how did you find out about…"

"I spied on you two."

"So you know all our secret conversations?" Sabrina asked.

"Not all of them, just… most of them," Liza replied mischievously.

Sabrina wiped her eyes, looking down, away from Will. "Fine, Will," she said. "I forgive you."

"You do? Oh, I'm so happy!" Will cried, glomping Sabrina.

"I guess if I had the chance to kiss Lucian, I'd do the same."

"Wait a minute, you like Lucian?"

"Just teasing!" Sabrina replied. "Now come on, we're going to go find a way to protect ourselves from Cynthia's wrath."

She kissed Roxette on the cheek.

"Liza, you give Roxette to my parents," Sabrina commanded. "Then you come with us to Indigo Plateau."

"Indigo? Why there?" Liza asked.

"I have the feeling that someone there can help us," Sabrina responded.

* * *

Later that day, Sabrina, Will and Liza arrived at Indigo Plateau, having teleported there. They saw an angry Giselle in the hallways, passing her without a word. Then they met up with the Elite Four, as well as five Johto trainers – Silver, Jasmine, Gold, Whitney and Karen.

"Hello, Will," Karen said.

Will gave her a quick wave without smiling, as he clearly did not want to see her.

"We were about to be joined by some special people, but these aren't the ones we were expecting," Lance said. "But it is a pleasure to see three of our finest trainers."

"Special people?" Sabrina asked.

"Yes, they are people who think they know the mysteries of Arceus," Lance said. "I'll let you in on our little secret – Arceus is going to save us from Cynthia's reign."

Sabrina, Will and Liza looked at each other and gasped. Did Lance mean Arceus, the legendary Pokémon of enormous power?

"They've arrived!" Joe exclaimed, and opened the door to reveal Roxanne as well as two others – Cynthia's grandparents.

"Sabrina," Cynthia's grandmother Carolina said upon seeing the psychic trainer.

"Um, who are you?" Sabrina asked.

"I am Carolina, a scholar of historical research in Celestic Town," Carolina replied. "But you may know me better as… Cynthia's grandmother."

Sabrina's heart began to race. Did Carolina have some of the same powers as her granddaughter? Would Carolina allow her granddaughter to know where she was?

"I've heard much about you," Carolina continued. "But the general aura I receive from you tells me that you are not nearly the woman Cynthia claims you are."

Sabrina looked at Will suspiciously. Was that a compliment or an insult?

"You don't seem to be the murderous type," Carolina added.

"Carolina, she never meant to-" Will began to say.

"Relax, Will," Sabrina said. She then bowed her head before Carolina.

"I am the one responsible for the deaths of Cynthia's parents," she said. "I am sincerely sorry."

"She was controlled!" Will shouted. "Controlled by the great Mewtwo!"

Carolina looked taken aback. "I wasn't accusing you," she replied. "But this does solve one of our mysteries."

Lance stepped in between Sabrina and Carolina. "We have more important business to get to," he stated. "Carolina, please tell everyone what you are here for."

"I am here because my own granddaughter has gone out of control – she is a wicked human being obsessed with power," Carolina stated. "Our goal is to find a way to stop her from being able to kill any more humans – as well as to bring her to justice."

"We do not wish to kill her, however," Cynthia's grandfather added. "Thus we wish to ask Arceus to eliminate her powers but to spare her life."

"And how do you plan on asking Arceus for such a thing?" Liza asked.

"That's where I come in," Roxanne said.

She held out a pearl.

"This pearl will tell us who is worthy of finding the mysterious Island of Obscurity, where the Azure Flute is hidden," she explained. "If it glows when you hold it, you are one of the chosen ones."

"But how do you know that the chosen ones could be among us?" Liza asked.

"The pearl led me to this building," Carolina said. "When my husband and I miraculously survived the collapse of our house, we held this pearl and it teleported us to Roxanne. Then we all held it again, and it teleported us here."

Liza looked suspicious, but before she could say anything, Roxanne began to speak.

"I am one of the chosen ones," she bragged. "And perhaps, so are some of you… so I ask now, each of you, to take the pearl… and find out if you are chosen as well."


	31. J's Got a Gun

Chapter 31

J's Got a Gun

In a bedroom in the back of the Vermillion City gym, Cyrus lay with a woman of great power. She liked Lucian more than she liked him, yet she lay with him anyway, because he was good enough for her for now.

She was not Cynthia but Hunter J.

"Wow, you are something else," Cyrus told her. "You're not quite as good as Cynthia, but I doubt anyone is."

"And you're not bad yourself," J replied. "Although Lucian is a much better kisser than you."

"Well, that was worth it," Cyrus said. "Even if you aren't Cynthia."

"And even if you aren't Lucian," J responded.

The two then shared a kiss.

"Here, I only give this to people who I truly care about," Cyrus said. "Take one of these."

He handed J a shard of some sort.

"What is this?" J asked him.

"It's a shard of the Lustrous Orb… I saved a bunch of them after it was shattered," Cyrus replied. "With a shard of this orb in your possession you will be safe when we start our new world with Dialga."

"Yeah, speaking of that…" J said.

"I know, I know, Cynthia's gotten some great power lately, and we've hidden from her for a while," Cyrus responded. "But the time has finally come. J, I want you to get that orb off Cynthia."

"And what if she no longer has the orb for whatever reason?" J asked.

"Then kill Lucian," Cyrus replied.

"But I _love_ him," J responded.

"How can you love someone you kissed once?" Cyrus demanded.

"Oh, all right, I'll kill him," J said.

As she got ready for the job, she loaded a handgun and placed it on her belt, then put the piece of the Lustrous Orb in her pocket. Cyrus watched her carefully, attracted to every move the cruel woman made.

"You love cruel women, don't you?" J asked.

"How did you know that?" Cyrus asked.

"Let's just say I'm more like your Cynthia than you think," J replied. "Now I'm off to complete your mission… and I demand every yen when I return."

"No problem," Cyrus stated.

* * *

J started on her mission, teleporting to the Spear Pillar. How was Cyrus so sure that Cynthia had not used the Adamant Orb or done something with it? Cyrus kept telling her something about the fact that no human being could withstand Dialga's powers if they even attempted to use the orb, so that was proof right then and there that Cynthia could not have used it. But what if it was no longer in her possession, or shattered, or something like that? Cyrus had been way too confident, in her mind. Yet she did not mind the benefits she had been receiving over the last few months.

She thought for a moment about where she had came from. The Pokémon Hunters Organization, where 26 had been chosen. She was merely the 10th of the 26, hence her nickname, the tenth letter of the alphabet. Her real name was a mystery to all, only one letter separating her from 25 others who were various places in the Pokémon world, many in jail from being captured by police. So what did her life matter? She was just a letter, anyway.

Still, she thought about all the missions she had undertaken, for the sole purpose of making more yen, trying to become the richest human being in the world. That, in her mind, would serve the purpose of making her life matter.

But then she saw the golden palace in which Cynthia resided, and she could not help but burn in anger at the one who sat upon its throne. Clearly the millions of yen which she stored back home could not even buy a pillar of this castle.

She teleported into the library of the palace, finding Lucian sitting there, reading a book.

"What are you reading?" she asked him.

Lucian did not look up, for he only stopped reading if his queen Cynthia interrupted him.

"Hey, boy, what's this book about?" J continued.

Lucian just kept on reading, ignoring the voice which clearly was not of Cynthia's.

"Lucian!" J shouted, but to no avail.

Finally J just grabbed the book out of his hands and threw it across the room.

"Excuse me, but that was not proper," Lucian said, before turning to see J.

"Oh no," he said.

"Oh yes," J replied. "Kiss me."

"Never!" Lucian shouted. "Queen Cynthia would not allow it! She'll punish you!"

"Take me to your queen, then," J responded.

Lucian led J up the stairs and into the throne room, where Cynthia sat waiting. Lucian bowed to his queen, who sighed, but smiled.

"Lucian, and I see the great Pokémon Hunter J," Cynthia stated. "What brings you to my palace?"

"One thing, and one thing only," J answered.

She pulled out the gun and held it to Lucian's head, putting her arm around his waist.

"I have come for the bounty on Lucian's head."

Cynthia's smile disappeared. "J, you would have been of great use in my kingdom," she said. "But now, you will die."

She snapped her fingers, waiting for J to fall. However, J continued to stand, holding the gun at Lucian's head, while Lucian trembled. He tried to teleport away but could not.

"Perhaps you did not see the dark mist I used to entrap you while you were on your way up the stairs," J said. "My Pokémon Umbreon did that for me."

"Why have you not died?" Cynthia asked. "My powers are absolute!"

"Not even a legendary Pokémon can kill someone by snapping their fingers," J retorted, apparently unaware of all the people Cynthia had killed with far less effort. "Now hand over the Adamant Orb, or he dies!"

"The Adamant Orb?" Cynthia asked. "I'm afraid… it does not exist anymore."

"Then he dies!" J shouted.

Cynthia snapped her fingers again, but nothing happened. What was going on? Why was the power of Dialga being neutralized?

"I'll give you thirty seconds to come up with that orb," J said. "And don't even think about attacking me, or I'll kill him without hesitation!"

Cynthia began thinking about her options. Of course she could easily attack J with her normal powers, couldn't she? But Lucian would die instantly, as soon as J squeezed the trigger. And what if those powers failed, too?

"Please don't kill him," Cynthia pleaded.

Lucian felt extremely nervous, as he tried to wiggle free. He looked over at Cynthia, maybe for the final time. She was no longer the all-powerful woman he had known, she now sat there, helpless. This was no way to die… or perhaps this was the only way to die.

"Three… two… one," J counted. Then she squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

* * *

Will held on to the pearl, hugging it tightly to his chest. He then held it out. To his amazement, the pearl glowed a deep red, just like it had done for several others in the room.

"Congratulations, Will!" Roxanne exclaimed. "You are one of the chosen ones!"

Will looked around sheepishly. Did these people truly believe that the color of the pearl determined their fate?

"So, it's Will, Karen, Silver, Jasmine, Joe and myself who are the chosen ones," Roxanne said to Cynthia's grandparents. "We shall find the Island of Obscurity and obtain the Azure Flute, so that we may contact the great Arceus."

Will looked over at Sabrina, who was not amused. Both she and Liza had held the pearl, and it did not glow for them, so they were evidently not "chosen."

"We must leave immediately," Cynthia's grandfather stated. "There is no time to waste, if we are to stop Cynthia from possibly killing us all."

The eight of them were about to leave the room when Giselle walked in.

"Oh, Giselle!" Joe called. "Here, give her the pearl, let her see if she's one of the chosen ones!"

Roxanne gave Joe an angry look before handing over the pearl to Giselle. Giselle took it in her right hand, squeezed it, then held it out for all to see. The pearl did not glow red, or remain its usual white color. No, the pearl turned pitch black. Cynthia's grandparents gasped.

"This girl… she's pure evil!" Cynthia's grandfather shouted.

"Now calm down," Carolina replied. "It could just be a mistake."

"No, you know what the legends say… if the pearl turns to black, the one holding it must have a heart made of pure evil!" Cynthia's grandfather protested.

Giselle took the pearl and threw it at Roxanne, who barely caught it. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"You get out of our way," Roxanne stated. "Those of us who are chosen are going to allow the pearl to lead us to the Island of Obscurity."

"You people are crazy," Giselle responded. "Come on, Joe, I've got something to talk to you about."

"Um, Giselle…" Joe told her. "I am one of the chosen ones. I must go to the Island of Obscurity with Roxanne."

Giselle gave Joe a long stare. She then simply turned away and walked out of the room without saying a word.

"Come on, we don't need her," Roxanne told Joe. "She can only be trouble for us."

"Wait a minute!" Will exclaimed. "How are we going to find this island if we don't know where it is?"

"The pearl will guide us," Roxanne replied.

"How?" Will protested. "It doesn't have a compass!"

Roxanne simply glared at Will. "You're a fool," she said.

She then led Joe, Karen, Jasmine and Silver out of the room. They were quickly followed by Cynthia's grandparents, Will, and finally the rest of the people who were not chosen.

"How am I a fool?" Will asked Sabrina. "That was a reasonable question."

"Just shut up and go ahead with your journey," Sabrina replied.

Will looked a bit surprised. Apparently Sabrina was either mad at him for being chosen, or jealous for not being chosen, or both. He wanted to chuckle about it, but he figured this was no time for humor.

"We have a giant Pidgeotto that is capable of fitting all eight of us aboard," Roxanne explained. "It is a marvel of nature, something I'm sure was brought to me not by coincidence but by the will of Arceus. The eight of us who are chosen will board it, then the pearl will be placed in the Pidgeotto's mouth. By the grace of Arceus it will carry us to the Island of Obscurity."

Liza rolled her eyes. She, for one, did not believe in Arceus. This idea of an all-powerful Pokémon that created everything was simply ridiculous.

"This will be a harsh journey, regardless of what you may think right now," Roxanne said. "You may want to say goodbye to your loved ones, Will."

Will walked over to Sabrina, who blankly stared at him. She was not feeling very emotional at the moment.

"Sabrina, I'll do what I can to save you from Cynthia," Will told her. "This is all for you."

"Just go," Sabrina replied with a touch of anger in her voice. She clearly was upset about being separated from him.

"And Liza, you help Sabrina take good care of Roxette while I'm gone," Will told Liza.

"Oh, of course!" Liza exclaimed. "I'm basically that girl's mother already!"

Sabrina gave Liza a glare over that statement, but said nothing. Then Will went to join the "chosen ones." Sabrina could not help but notice that he walked right over to Karen and stood beside her.

"Okay, we will be on our way, to find the Azure Flute and contact the great Arceus!" Roxanne exclaimed. "Good-bye to you all, wish us best of luck!"

And so they left the building, boarding the giant Pidgeotto and taking off. They seemed to be heading in the general direction of a certain island, but not the Island of Obscurity. Rather, they were headed right towards an island that many people knew about – a vacationing spot known as Shamouti Island.

* * *

Giselle sat in her room, pouting. Joe was a chosen one, she wasn't. What did that mean, anyway? She didn't believe in Arceus. Arceus was but a myth, a legend. So what if the pearl turned black when she touched it? It could not have been much more than a coincidence.

What upset her most was the fact that right now Joe was with Roxanne, and not with her.

"If that Roxanne dares to try to steal my Joe away, I'll teach her a lesson she'll never forget!" Giselle exclaimed. "What does she have that I don't have?"

She put her hands on her chest, feeling the very ample portion of her body. Only Lorelei could claim a bigger chest area than her, and she was only 20, still growing. Surely Joe could not ask for anything more from her physically. And certainly he could not ask for anything more for her in popularity – every boy would want to date her. So she had to wonder what Roxanne had to offer that she didn't.

The right to be called "chosen"?

She wanted to laugh it off, but it was true. Joe liked the fact that Roxanne considered him special. She had led him into her cult and now they were off to find the one who would somehow save them all. It was such a joke to her… yet if she had lost him, it would not be one she would be laughing over.


	32. Sabrina's Sorrow

Chapter 32

Sabrina's Sorrow

Hunter J stared at Cynthia with shock. Her gunshot went right into thin air, failing to touch anything. Lucian had disappeared.

"What just happened?" J shouted.

"I freed Lucian from the dark mist that you had used to keep him from teleporting," Cynthia replied. "So before you could shoot, he teleported away."

"He must have impeccable timing," J remarked. "That's just not possible!"

"Unfortunate, isn't it?" Cynthia commented.

J then turned and shot her gun at Cynthia, but the bullet dropped in mid-air and fell harmlessly to the ground. Cynthia then shot a ball of dark energy towards J, knocking her over.

"You would be best to stop pitting yourself up against the queen," Cynthia stated. "Any attack you put up will only result in your own defeat."

"I have a mission to accomplish, and that is to take back the Adamant Orb!" J yelled, getting up from the ground. "Where is it?"

"Tell Cyrus that I have used his precious orb and that he can never get it back," Cynthia replied.

"How – how do you know-"

"My powers as a psychic are far beyond what you can ever imagine," Cynthia stated. "Now, please, just tell me, what sort of power do you have? You obviously have something extremely strong with you to be able to keep me from killing you right now."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" J exclaimed. "All I can say is that you'd better be telling the truth!"

"And what would you do about it if I were lying?" Cynthia asked.

J thought about it for a moment, then sighed.

"I give up..." J replied. "I have nothing against you, Queen Cynthia, nor your Lucian."

"I know," Cynthia said. "You like Lucian."

"All I want is to make the money I deserve," J stated.

"You could be a great asset for me, J," Cynthia commented. "Before you return to Cyrus, how about I give you a mission? I can pay you more richly than anyone else ever could."

An evil smile appeared on J's face. "I would be honored to work for you, Queen Cynthia," she said.

* * *

Sabrina was resting in her house alone, with her parents taking care of Roxette for the moment. She was awfully upset that Will had gone off on some bizarre journey with Karen. Why did those two have to go together? It wasn't like they shared any special connection anymore. Were people really listening to the opinions of an inanimate object? And would they really find such a Pokémon that would save them all from Cynthia?

None of these questions mattered anymore, however. For in a flash, Sabrina saw dark mist suddenly surround her, which sprung from an Umbreon. And right in her midst was Hunter J, who had teleported right into her house.

"Who are you, and how did you find me?" Sabrina asked.

"It wasn't very hard to find out where you lived, Miss Saffron," J answered.

"That would be Mrs. Saffron," Sabrina corrected her. "Now what do you want with me?"

J pulled out her gun and pointed it at Sabrina's head. "I have come for the bounty on your head," she stated. "Make one move and you shall die."

Sabrina tried teleporting away, but the dark mist made it impossible for her to do so. "What do you want out of me?" she asked. "I have money, if that's what you want."

J paused for a moment, thinking about her possibilities. "Get as much of it as you can and bring it to me," she replied.

Sabrina nervously walked through her house, the dark mist still surrounding her, and J continuing to point the gun at her head. She wasted no time in finding several hundred thousand yen in her room which she reluctantly handed over to J.

"This is all I have with me," Sabrina told her.

"Don't lie," J replied. "If you don't give over everything, I will kill you."

"This is it!" Sabrina shouted. "I don't know why you've come if that doesn't satisfy you."

"I have one last request, and then I will let you go," J said. "Focus your mind on mine."

Sabrina looked at J with confusion. What could she possibly mean by this?

"Focus!" J shouted.

Sabrina felt like she had no choice, and in reality, she did not, so she closed her eyes and began to focus her mind on J's. J then called back Umbreon, and the dark mist went away. With their minds focused together, they suddenly teleported away.

* * *

"Welcome, Sabrina."

Sabrina opened her eyes to see Cynthia sitting upon her golden throne in front of her. J also was there, as she walked away, counting the money Sabrina had given to her.

"This is my new palace, isn't it beautiful?" Cynthia asked.

Sabrina wanted to escape, but she found that she could not teleport. Again, she was helpless. She hoped that perhaps a bit of flattery would get her some mercy.

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Sabrina replied.

Cynthia smiled. "So, you accept the fact that I am now the queen of the Pokémon world?" she asked.

Sabrina did not respond.

"Whether you do or not, that is of no concern to me," Cynthia stated. "For I am the queen of the Pokémon world, and in a matter of days every single person living in it shall bow down before me. Including you."

She twitched her finger, and Sabrina instantly fell to her knees.

"Tell me, Sabrina, how does it feel to know that I am the queen, and you are nothing but a citizen completely at my mercy?"

Sabrina gulped. She did not know what to say. How could she tell the truth? It felt horrible to her, being a woman of great pride.

"I know it hurts," Cynthia continued. "Hopefully as much as it hurt me when you killed my parents."

"Is that what this is all about?" Sabrina asked. "Is that why you hate me so badly? Tell me, Queen Cynthia!"

"It is," Cynthia replied. "You took from me something I could never replace, and for that, you shall pay."

"But, Queen Cynthia, my mind was controlled by Mewtwo," Sabrina protested. "I would have never killed your parents under my own will."

"Silence!" Cynthia shouted.

"No, I will speak!" Sabrina replied.

Cynthia gave a look of fury to Sabrina, and snapped her fingers. Instantly Sabrina began to feel extreme pain, and she collapsed to the ground.

"I am the queen, you do not disobey my orders!" Cynthia shouted. "I am a fair queen, I will give you your opportunity to speak your case, but only when I wish you to."

Sabrina lifted her head off the ground, looking up at Cynthia. "I'm sorry, Queen Cynthia," she cried. "Please have mercy on me and let me speak my case."

Cynthia moved a finger, and some of Sabrina's pain relented, but not all of it.

"Queen Cynthia, I never intended to kill your parents, not on my life," Sabrina said. "What do you want from me in return? You are the queen, you have everything. There is nothing from me I have left to give."

"Your life," Cynthia stated.

"But why?" Sabrina questioned. "Why, Queen Cynthia, when you have so much? All I wish is to raise my daughter. Is that so much to ask? If you could live the rest of your life with the satisfaction of knowing that you are the queen of the Pokémon world, and also knowing that I had no intention on killing your parents, wouldn't that be enough?"

Cynthia paused. Perhaps Sabrina was sincere. Maybe she really meant that she had no intent to kill, maybe it was all the fault of an out-of-control Pokémon.

"Okay, Sabrina, I forgive you," Cynthia stated.

Sabrina breathed a sigh of relief.

"But my sister does not!" Cynthia then screamed.

She snapped her fingers, and Sabrina fell flat on her face before her. She then began to torture Sabrina simply with the snap of her fingers, with much pain shooting through her body. Sabrina's body went into convulsions, as she screamed helplessly. Tears ran down her face as she felt every bit of pain she could imagine.

This went on for a whole hour, as Cynthia laughed. Clearly she did not forgive Sabrina, though she used her sister as a scapegoat. She much enjoyed watching the one who killed her parents feel such pain.

"What good are you?" Cynthia asked. "What worth do you have? Your own husband prefers me to you. What do you have?"

Sabrina simply cried.

"There's no reason for you to live," Cynthia said.

"Then just kill me," Sabrina said. "If you'll only spare Will and my daughter, I will choose to die right now."

Cynthia smiled. "No," she stated. "I will keep you alive as long as possible, just to torture you every day. You will live your life for the sole purpose of being punished. Think of every day I have to live without my parents. For each and every day my parents are dead, you shall be punished in return."

"I can't bring them back from the dead!" Sabrina cried.

"Then you shall be tortured," Cynthia replied. "Every day, for one hour."

Cynthia called for Lucian, who took Sabrina's limp body and placed it in a room in the bottom of the palace. Right before he was about to close the door, he leaned over to Sabrina and whispered something in her ear.

"Thank you, Lucian," Sabrina replied.

Lucian then shut the door on Sabrina, leaving her in a pitch-black room with nothing but the cold, hard floor to lie on. With Cynthia's power preventing her from teleporting, Sabrina was helpless, and she had no choice but to simply lie on the ground and try to recover from the extreme pain Cynthia had put her under. One thing kept her going: Lucian's words.

* * *

"So, where is my paycheck, Queen Cynthia?" J asked.

Cynthia laughed. "Your reward is making the queen happy," she replied.

"What?" J questioned. "You mean I don't get anything for what I did for you?"

"I know that Sabrina gave you some of her own money, and that should do," Cynthia stated. "But if you want to further the issue, I will have something to say on it…"

"No, Queen Cynthia," J replied disappointedly.

Cynthia then turned to Lucian. "Lucian, isn't it great that our most despicable rival is under our custody?" she asked.

Lucian thought about his response carefully. "Whatever makes the queen happy," he responded.

"Oh, that's exactly what I thought you'd say," Cynthia said. "Now, Lucian, begin preparation for my next plan."

Lucian sighed. He was now forced to go off and find Sinnoh television reporters, who would come to the castle and report to the whole Pokémon world that they must bow down before Cynthia, or else she would kill them. The logistics of this were unclear to him; surely the millions of people in Kanto, Johto and Hoenn could not all come to the Spear Pillar and bow before her. But perhaps she would force them all to bow, no matter where they were, and then kill those who did not bow. At this point, he figured, no one would be stupid enough not to bow.

As they flew closer to the island before them, Will turned to Karen.

"I hope Sabrina's all right," he said.

"Who cares about her?" Karen asked. "Let's face it, Will, you're not satisfied with her, are you?"

"What do you mean?" Will questioned, startled.

"Let's face it, Will, you were always the type to want the most beautiful, most powerful woman," Karen replied. "That woman was Sabrina for a while. But she's lost her luster, she's lost her strength, she's no longer the woman she once was."

"Why would you – how could you – why do you think that?" Will asked.

"Your heart longs for a queen, whom you can bow before," Karen continued.

"What are you – I'm not that – come on!" Will shouted.

"Will, I foresee you divorcing Sabrina and marrying a woman who calls herself queen, for that's what you like," Karen stated. "And that person is-"

Before she could finish her statement, the giant Pidgeotto landed on solid ground. The "chosen ones" had arrived on an island – but this was not the Island of Obscurity. This was Shamouti Island, an island of paradise – but not the destination they were looking for.


	33. Great Balls of Fire

Chapter 33

Great Balls of Fire

Lucian brought out Sabrina in front of Cynthia the next day. Sabrina was powerless, feeling as weak as ever. She simply lay on the ground before Cynthia, not speaking a word.

"Your torture begins now," Cynthia stated.

She snapped her fingers, and instantly Sabrina went into agony, feeling all sorts of pain. Cynthia began to laugh, while Lucian frowned. He did not feel it was right that his wife put Sabrina through such pain, but he refused to speak up against her.

After an hour, Cynthia relented on the pain, and Sabrina gasped for air, while still crying hysterically.

"Lucian, put her away, and bring her back the same time tomorrow," Cynthia requested.

"Queen Cynthia, if I may, would you accept an argument in Sabrina's favor?" Lucian asked.

Sabrina's ears perked up. Was Lucian really trying to help her out?

"Okay, but only because it is you, Lucian," Cynthia replied.

"Queen Cynthia, it is obvious that Sabrina has committed awful crimes against your majesty, she has killed your two parents, whom you can never get back," Lucian stated. "She claims her innocence, and her argument is of validity. Therefore by continuing to attack her you give credibility to her as a martyr and shame on your majesty."

Cynthia did not say a word.

"If it pleases the queen, let me request that you stop attacking Sabrina, in order to bring further fame to your majesty as a fair and merciful queen," Lucian said. "As it stands, you spend every day with Sabrina haunting you, instead of letting her go. By killing her you would only shift the guilt to your majesty. If it pleases the queen, let me request that you let Sabrina go, with the condition that she never shows her face to you again."

Cynthia remained silent for a minute. Sabrina began to get hopeful as she waited for her to respond. Then, suddenly, Cynthia spoke.

"Get down on your knees, boy!" Cynthia demanded. "How dare you try to order around the queen!"

Lucian immediately dropped to his knees and bowed his head before Cynthia. But before he could even apologize, Cynthia spoke to Sabrina.

"Since I am a merciful queen, I hereby release you from my presence," Cynthia stated. "It would be to your advantage to never show your face to me again, or to even be in my presence, or you will immediately die. The same goes for your pathetic husband and any of your offspring. None of them should speak to, look at, or even walk nearby the queen, her sister, Lucian, or our offspring. This is your final warning, and the most merciful thing I shall ever do for you."

The weak Sabrina could barely speak. "Th-thank you, Q-Queen Cynthia," she stuttered.

Cynthia released the barrier that surrounded her palace, and Sabrina was able to teleport away. She ended up teleporting to the living room of her mansion, where she simply cried, trying to recover from the extreme pain.

* * *

Roxanne's group of "chosen ones" arrived at Shamouti Island, where they found a bunch of natives singing songs and carrying torches. They also found Melody and Gary standing there, with Melody looking quite annoyed.

"What have you come here for?" Melody asked Roxanne.

"We are on a mission," Roxanne said in a serious voice. "We have come to find the Island of Obscurity."

"The Island of… what?" Melody exclaimed.

"We must find the Azure Flute so we may gain communication with the great Arceus," Roxanne continued.

"I know all about flute playing, and let me be the first to tell you that there is no such thing as an Azure Flute," Melody replied. "You're on a wild goose chase."

Roxanne walked past Melody and Gary towards the natives of the island, who were going through a ritual. "Excuse me," she said, "but have you heard of the legend of Arceus?"

"Why yes," one native told her. "We know all about the myth of Arceus."

Roxanne brought over Cynthia's grandparents, and they talked with the natives. After their talk, they came to a stunning conclusion.

"What is it?" Joe asked.

"In order for the Island of Obscurity to appear, human sacrifices must be made," Roxanne explained.

"Count me out!" Silver shouted. "This is ridiculous!"

Jasmine hugged Silver tightly, very nervous about this idea.

"But those who are sacrificed will become one with Arceus!" Roxanne continued. "That is a fate better than eternal life. I only wish I could be the one sacrificed."

"You're crazy!" Silver shouted.

"Roxanne, you really don't want to do this, do you?" Joe asked.

"It all depends on the pearl," Carolina said.

"The pearl?" Will asked.

"The pearl will glow purple if the chosen ones who hold it are to be sacrificed," Carolina explained. "We all shall hold the pearl and find out if we are the ones to be sacrificed."

The "chosen ones" handed around the pearl, with Melody looking on in disgust. Surely none of them would be stupid enough to die for some unknown Pokémon?

"It's purple!" Roxanne shouted.

Jasmine gasped. She was holding the pearl, and it did indeed glow a bright purple. Silver immediately snatched the pearl off her.

"Well, forget it," Silver said. "She is not giving up her life for this cause."

"Look, it's still purple, and you have it!" Roxanne gasped. "You two are the ones who have been chosen to sacrifice your lives to become one with Arceus! What an honor!"

Silver took the pearl and threw it. Roxanne chased after it and picked it up. She then stared Silver straight in the face.

"We now must kill you and Jasmine," she stated. "If not, we shall never see the Island of Obscurity."

* * *

Liza found Sabrina lying in her mansion, unable to move. She immediately called medics to come pick her up and take her to the hospital.

After Sabrina was taken into the hospital and was being treated, Liza called up her parents to tell them how their daughter was doing.

"What happened to her?" Mrs. Saffron asked.

"Oh, that awful queen Cynthia tortured her a little bit, that's all," Liza replied. "She'll be fine."

"Tortured?" Mrs. Saffron questioned.

"Yeah, there's this woman who hates Sabrina and pretty much does whatever she wants to her," Liza said. "Sabrina looked awfully pathetic, I have to say."

"Well, what can we do to stop this from happening again?" Mrs. Saffron asked.

"Nothing! Sabrina's completely at Cynthia's mercy!" Liza replied. "But I get this feeling that Cynthia's going to lay off your daughter for a while… as long as you bow."

"Bow?" Mrs. Saffron asked.

"You'll find out," Liza said with a laugh.

* * *

"Look, Roxanne, we're not giving up our lives for the sake of some crazy cult of yours," Silver told Roxanne. "We quit!"

He grabbed Jasmine's hand and began to walk away. Roxanne stared at his back angrily, before pulling out a Poké Ball.

"Graveler, pummel them!" she yelled.

Silver turned around and sent out his Totodile to counter Graveler. Using a Water Gun attack, it managed to hold off Graveler for the time being, long enough for Jasmine to send out her Steelix to battle as well. Roxanne sent out her Nosepass as well, but it was no good. Steelix overpowered both of them easily.

"Fine, just run away, and destroy all our dreams!" Roxanne cried. "Someday you'll wish you were one with Arceus!"

"I'm sure," Silver laughed.

But in the moments it took for him and Jasmine to retrieve their Pokémon, they were suddenly surrounded by natives carrying torches. The natives grabbed the two of them and prevented them from grabbing their Poké Balls. They then carried them off towards a fire, as Roxanne smiled. Joe, Will and Karen gasped, while Melody crossed her arms nonchalantly.

* * *

All over the Pokémon world, in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, televisions that were on had themselves suddenly changed to a shot of Cynthia, sitting upon her golden throne.

"Greetings, my people," Cynthia stated. "I am your queen, Cynthia. I request – no, I demand – that anyone viewing this broadcast immediately would bow down before me. Wherever you are right now, just bow down, and I will spare your life. For you must accept that I am your queen, and that I am queen of the entire Pokémon world."

Millions of people dropped to their knees and bowed down, fearing for their lives. Of the hundreds who saw her message and refused, Cynthia simply snapped her fingers and instantly killed them, no matter where they were in the world.

"Thank you," Cynthia said. "Just remember, all who oppose me shall die immediately. I shall reign as your queen forever!"

She laughed as the broadcast ended.

* * *

Silver and Jasmine were tied to stakes in front of a gigantic fire. Roxanne smiled as she watched them helplessly squirm, trying to escape.

"I envy you two," Roxanne stated. "If the pearl would only have glowed purple for me, I would be happily be dying to become one with Arceus, but alas, fate has not allowed me that privilege. Nevertheless, you two will receive the glory of becoming one with the great Arceus. Light the stakes!"

Natives walked over and lit the stakes on fire, and Silver and Jasmine watched as the fire began to burn up towards their bodies. They could not do a thing but cry out.

"Silver, save me!" Jasmine screamed.

"I can't, Jasmine!" Silver cried.

The flames climbed higher and higher, until they were just about to touch their bodies. That was when Will grabbed the pearl off Roxanne and tossed it into the fire.

"How could you do that?" Roxanne exclaimed.

The pearl hit the fire, and the fire exploded. The natives ran in fear as smoke covered the place. In the chaos, Roxanne could not see what happened to Jasmine and Silver.

"They must have died," Roxanne said.

"Look!" Cynthia's grandfather told Roxanne, pointing off into the distance.

Roxanne looked in the direction he was pointing and saw an island far away.

"That wasn't there before!" Roxanne exclaimed. "That must be the Island of Obscurity!"

She then looked down to see two piles of ashes near the edge of the fire, and the pearl sitting there, unharmed.

"Oh, I envy you two, to be part of Arceus right now," Roxanne said. "But we'll see you again, as part of the great Pokémon."

She picked up the pearl.

"Come on, let's go – to the Island of Obscurity!" Roxanne told the others. "Jasmine and Silver are with Arceus now, and we must go find Arceus ourselves."

Joe, Will and Karen followed Roxanne and Cynthia's grandparents as they boarded the giant Pidgeotto. They were off to the Island of Obscurity.

"Poor Jasmine and Silver," Joe stated.

"It was a necessary sacrifice," Carolina replied.

"They're better off now, anyway," Roxanne said.

Meanwhile, Karen grasped Will's hand.

"Forget about Sabrina," she told him. "When we find Arceus, she will be of no meaning to you anymore."

Will could not find the words to say. He just knew that Karen's words from before rang true.

_ "Your heart longs for a queen, whom you can bow before."_

Was he really that pathetic, like Lucian? Did he need a queen that badly? And yet, the taste of the kiss remained. That taste, that feeling – that was all he needed to know. If he could only feel that one more time, he would be happy to call her queen.

But none of that mattered to Roxanne. She had her heart set on meeting Arceus. And she was willing to sacrifice any of the remaining "chosen ones" in order to achieve her goal.

_I will meet you, Arceus, and you will set this world right,_ Roxanne thought. _And then my life will be complete._


	34. Say You Will

Chapter 34

Say You Will

Lucian sat in the library of his wife Cynthia's palace, deeply interested in a book that he was reading. Lucian loved practically all books, but this one in particular caught his attention. It spoke of something he had not thought about for a long time, something he and Cynthia had great interest back when they were younger…

"So, what are you reading about?"

Lucian looked over to the seat next to him, where Cynthia had suddenly teleported. Seeing her off her throne during the day was pretty rare, normally, if he wanted to speak to her, he had to stand in front of her throne, always a frightening moment. But this time she had stooped to his level to sit right next to him, something he felt honored by.

"There's no need for you to ask, of course you know already," Lucian replied to his crowned wife.

"It's about Arceus," Cynthia stated.

"We used to fantasize about meeting Arceus, my queen," Lucian said. "To meet such a legendary Pokémon would be such a dream come true, such an amazing feat."

"I will meet Arceus," Cynthia replied.

"That's what you've always said… do you still believe it?" Lucian asked.

"Lucian, I have not told you this, because I have been afraid you would respond incorrectly to it," Cynthia explained, "but I have set a plan in motion that will enable me to meet the great Pokémon Arceus."

Lucian looked at Cynthia with a bit of disbelief.

"My grandparents, who were nearly killed by Karen some time ago, survived the attacks due to my powers," Cynthia continued. "I had them fake their deaths, then teleport to one who sympathized with Arceus. I had to find someone who had an undying belief in Arceus, someone willing to risk anything and everything to find Arceus. And I found that person."

"Who is it?" Lucian questioned.

"That person is insignificant, there is no need for you to know of his or her identity," Cynthia responded. "But what is most important is that the person I speak of will clear the way for my grandparents to obtain the Azure Flute, and thus bring Arceus to me."

"But according to this book, Arceus only would appear to the chosen one," Lucian objected. "The one who Arceus promised a wish – Arceus will fulfill one wish to that person, then disappear again. Are you claiming to be the chosen one?"

Lucian stared at Cynthia with great suspicion, and a hint of jealousy. Cynthia simply gave him her usual smile.

"It does not matter," Cynthia replied. "I do not know the identity of the chosen one, but remember that the wish Arceus promises is for the betterment of the world. That means that anyone who would receive that wish would think of me and feel jealous, and thus ask for me to be taken out of my position. And that is exactly what I want."

"Queen Cynthia, you don't want that!" Lucian protested. "You want to reign forever as queen of the Pokémon world!"

"And I will, Lucian, but only after becoming one with Arceus," Cynthia replied.

Lucian adjusted his glasses nervously upon hearing this. Was Cynthia really meaning what she was saying?

"As I am one with Dialga, so I shall be one with Arceus," Cynthia continued. "I will fight and defeat Arceus and obtain all of its powers. Then I will have achieved my ultimate goal – to be able to control the will of others."

"I don't understand," Lucian replied. "Don't you have extraordinary power now?"

"Lucian, people bow before me because they are scared of me," Cynthia explained. "When I gain the powers of Arceus, I will be able to control the will of each and every human being on this planet. Then I will make them all wish to serve me nonstop, day and night. Each person in this world will live only to please me. There will be no conflict against me, no one will be able to think a single thing against me. They will all live for the sole purpose of serving me, as their queen."

Lucian gulped. He had no words for what his wife was suggesting; it boggled his mind. Obviously Cynthia had enormous power already, but if she would gain the powers of Arceus, she could in fact put the entire world under her control, including him. He would then no longer have his own free will, but be completely controlled by her.

"For example, think of that waste of space known as Sabrina," Cynthia stated. "Right now she lives her life in fear of me, hating me and everything about me. But if I were to control her will, I could make Sabrina's one and only wish in life be to bow down face down to the ground before me, with her head resting underneath my heel. You know very well that if I were to try to force her to do that, I would have to come close to killing her. But with the powers of Arceus, I could make her want to bow before me for the rest of my life. And as you know, with Arceus's power, I could make her live as long as I wish."

Lucian just remained silent.

"Of course you and I would live forever," Cynthia replied. "The world would be perfect. No more conflict, no more violence, just complete authority over the whole world would be mine. And it will happen, as soon as my grandparents achieve the goal of obtaining the Azure Flute."

Lucian sat in silence for a few moments before opening his mouth. "Queen-"

"I know you have your doubts, Lucian, but trust me."

"Queen Cynthia, this is all wrong!" Lucian protested. "When you were younger, you wished to see Arceus, but just to study such a great Pokémon and see its powers firsthand! You didn't wish to be one with Arceus and to control the will of every human being! Queen Cynthia, you realize that if you were to have such powers, none of us would exist as individuals, we would all be the same! I would be no more to you than any other male on the planet!"

Cynthia gave Lucian an angry look. "The queen disapproves of what you say, boy," she stated sternly. "The queen demands that you kneel before me and apologize."

Lucian set down his book immediately and dropped to his knees. "I am greatly sorry, your majesty," he said, bowing his head before her. "Please forgive me for my foolishness."

"That is enough, boy," Cynthia replied, even as Lucian winced from Cynthia's derogatory address "boy" that she used every time she became angry with him. "Whether you like it or not, I will be one with Arceus, and there shall be no stopping me."

* * *

Amidst all the turmoil on Shamouti Island, two Pokémon trainers and one of their Pokémon ran off into the distance. After running as far as they could and getting away from all other human beings, they stopped to catch their breath.

"Thank you, Sneasel," Jasmine told the Pokémon.

"Yeah, you really saved our lives, by sneaking out of your Poké Ball and slashing the ropes that held us," Silver added.

"Now that no one can see us, we have to fly away," Jasmine stated.

She sent out her Skarmory, and they boarded it, before flying off, back to Indigo Plateau, where they hoped to see their friends Gold and Whitney.

* * *

Roxanne led her group of "chosen ones" onto the Island of Obscurity, which they reached on the back of the giant Pidgeotto. She walked around in complete awe of the place, while Cynthia's grandparents followed her with a close eye. Will walked beside Karen, while Joe followed Roxanne closely. Roxanne suddenly turned around to Joe in ecstasy.

"Isn't this great, Joe, we're here!" she shouted.

"Um, I guess," Joe replied.

"Joe, you were such a brilliant student, just think of what it's like to get to experience this, something none of your classmates ever could," Roxanne continued. "And certainly something that Giselle never could."

"Don't insult Giselle," Joe replied. "She's a great girl."

"Is she as great as a chosen one like me?" Roxanne asked.

She led them further ahead, as the pearl in her hand glowed brightly. The pearl would glow brighter as she walked in the direction of the Azure Flute, she explained to everyone else, who simply believed her. It glowed brightest as she reached a cave, with something written in Unown letters on the wall.

"It says, 'Four enter, the rest shall die,'" Roxanne said. "So I assume that only four of us go inside the cave, and that would be chosen by the pearl."

She held up the pearl, and it glowed brightly.

"I have been chosen, the rest of you must find out as well if you are chosen," Roxanne stated.

Joe held the pearl, and it continued to glow. He passed it to Cynthia's grandparents, and it glowed as each of them touched it.

"Your turn," Carolina told Will, handing him the pearl.

Will took the pearl, and instantly its glow disappeared. He handed it to Karen, and it remained the same.

"You two have not been chosen," Roxanne stated coldly.

She took the pearl off Karen, and it began glowing again.

"So, the two of you may not come in," Roxanne told Karen and Will. "Instead, you must die."

"Die?" Will asked. "Why is that?"

"That's what it says on the wall," Roxanne replied. "So, if you'll excuse me, I must now kill the both of you."

She sent out her Graveler.

"Graveler, crush these two," Roxanne commanded.

"What, you think we're actually going to let you kill us?" Karen asked. "Beat that thing, Murkrow!"

Karen's Murkrow and Will's Xatu then battled against Roxanne's Graveler. As they did, Cynthia's grandparents and Joe began to step inside the cave.

"Wait!" Roxanne shouted. "Shouldn't these two die first?"

"They will probably die anyway," Cynthia's grandfather replied. "Just come with us."

Roxanne called back her Graveler, then followed the other three inside the cave. "I wish I was in your position," she said to Will and Karen. "For all chosen ones who die in pursuit of Arceus get to be one with it."

She then disappeared from their sight as she walked deeper inside the cave. Karen then looked seriously at Will after the two called back their Pokémon.

"So, we are to die here?" Karen asked.

"I guess so," Will replied in a joking manner.

"I wouldn't mind dying with you," Karen replied.

Will rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's take that Pidgeotto and get out of here," he said. "I don't feel like sitting around here much longer."

As the two took the Pidgeotto, thoughts flooded Will's mind. They were thoughts of a certain woman, who gave him a certain kiss. It was as if he had been cursed by the kiss, as if the woman now possessed him. All he wanted now was to kiss that woman again. He had to get back to that woman as soon as he possibly could, for he felt as if he could not live without her kiss.


	35. Of Kisses and Kidnappings

Chapter 35

Of Kisses and Kidnappings

It was early in the morning, and Hunter J was making some last-minute preparations for her plan. Surely she thought she could pull this off and get what she wanted at last. But it would take perfect cooperation from her partner in crime to achieve her goal, so she could only hope he would pull off what he promised to do.

* * *

It took only moments for Will to realize what was going on. He was suddenly surrounded by Karen's Dark Pokemon, which immediately trapped him in a ball of dark energy.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"This is my way of getting what I want out of you," Karen responded.

"And what do you want out of me?" Will asked.

"Your love, that's all," Karen replied.

"Ridiculous, you'd never get that out of me!" Will shouted.

"Then I guess I'll just have to force it out," Karen said.

She commanded her Dark Pokémon to attack the helpless Will, who looked around, hoping to find someone to help him. But they were near the shore of Shamouti Island, with not even a villager around to see what was happening.

"Stop it!" he cried as the Pokémon began to attack him. "Is this how you prove your love to someone?"

"Will, it's not about me, it's about you," Karen replied. "I want you, and if you refuse me, you're going to continue to get this treatment. Keep at it, Umbreon!"

Will screamed as the dark attacks infiltrated the ball of dark energy and hit his body. He cried out for help, but there was no one to give it to him.

"Now, are you ready?" Karen asked, in a pause in the attacks. "To kiss me?"

Will gave Karen a sour face in return, but he knew he had no choice. Surely he was going to have to kiss her in order to get out of this one…

* * *

Cynthia was relaxing on her throne as usual, when her sister Diane came into the throne room and bowed before her.

"Queen Sister, I have received a video phone call from Lucian," Diane said.

"Lucian?" Cynthia wondered. "Why? Isn't he in the library?"

Diane took Cynthia to the videophone, where she saw Lucian. She noticed he was with Cyrus and Hunter J, and that he was surrounded by Dark Pokemon.

"Lucian!" she cried. "What's happened to you?"

"He is being held as hostage by us," Cyrus stated. "We have several demands of you, and if you do not go through with them, your precious Lucian shall die."

Hunter J held out a gun and pointed it at Lucian's head. Cynthia immediately noticed how similar this was to the previous situation, only that Lucian was in some undisclosed location away from her.

"No, you shall die," Cynthia stated. She snapped her fingers, expecting Cyrus and Hunter J to die, but nothing happened.

"You think you can kill us by doing that? Try again," Cyrus laughed. "We have the power of the Lustrous Orb, which prevents your immense power from working against us."

"I thought that was destroyed when that brat Giselle defeated Palkia," Cynthia stated.

"I saved some of the fragments of the orb, and each of them have the same power as the whole orb itself," Cyrus said. "Let's face it, you're in a lot of trouble."

Cynthia sighed. "What do you want of me?" she asked. "If there's something I can do to free Lucian, I'll do it."

Hunter J grinned. "For starters, I want a payment of 1 million yen," she stated.

"How am I supposed to give that to you from here?" Cynthia asked.

"You get the money, set it out before yourself, and Cyrus will be there to pick it up," J responded.

Cynthia teleported away to pick up some of the money she had stashed away in a vault. One million yen was nothing to her, in fact money itself was meaningless. She held the whole world hostage at her fingertips, so she had no use for money. If it was to free Lucian, she was all the more willing to give it away.

When she returned with the cash, Cyrus appeared in front of her to pick it up. He smiled at her, then leaned in for a kiss.

"Kiss me, or your husband dies," he stated.

Cynthia frowned, hating the way she, as a queen, was being pushed around. But nonetheless she gave in, kissing Cyrus on the lips. Cyrus enjoyed every moment of it, since Cynthia was such a good kisser.

"Ooh, thank you, Queen Cynthia," he told her.

He then teleported away, with all the money in tow, then reappeared on the screen.

"Where are you?" Cynthia asked, finding herself unable to figure that fact out by merely using her psychic powers.

"It doesn't matter," J responded. "We have more requests from you."

"What could those possibly be?" Cynthia questioned.

"We want the Adamant Orb," Cyrus stated.

Cynthia smiled warmly. "I don't have it," she replied.

"What?" Cyrus yelled.

"I don't have it anymore," Cynthia said.

"I told you!" J shouted at Cyrus.

Cyrus and J then began having a conversation with each other, while Lucian looked on helplessly. Cynthia vainly tried to read their minds, but not even her power was enough to do that.

Finally, the two stopped talking and addressed Cynthia again. "If you will not give us the Adamant Orb, Lucian _will_ die," Cyrus stated. "So wherever it is, you must find it."

"I used the Adamant Orb myself!" Cynthia shouted. "It no longer exists!"

"How is that possible?" Cyrus asked. "If so, this world wouldn't exist; we'd have a brand new world."

"It is possible," Cynthia said. "I used it to awaken Dialga, then I defeated that Pokémon and sucked all of its powers into me. In short, I _am_ Dialga."

Cyrus looked at Cynthia with fear. She had defeated that great Pokémon? He began to cower before her, nervous about what way she would retaliate at him for his actions.

"Maybe we should let Lucian go," J suggested.

"No! I've come this far, I'm not letting this chance slip away!" Cyrus said.

"Well, then I'm doing what I want with this boy," J said.

She threw her arms around his neck and began to kiss him. Lucian had no choice but to find himself immersed in a kiss with a woman other than his queen Cynthia.

Cynthia, meanwhile, was incensed. As she stared at the screen in anger, she felt a rush of power building up inside of her. It was almost as if Dialga's power was being awakened.

"What's the matter, Queen Sister?" Diane asked.

As Cynthia's power built up, Diane suddenly fell to the floor, knocked over by her immense energy. She then found all the psychic power she needed to teleport away to the very room where Cyrus and Hunter J were standing.

"Uh-oh," Cyrus said, as J broke away from the kiss.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill all three of you!" Cynthia screamed.

She grabbed Cyrus by the shirt and threw him to the ground, then kicked him in the side. She walked over to J, took the gun out of her hand, and threw it to the wall. She then pushed J to the ground and kicked her as well.

"Aren't you going to kill us?" Cyrus asked.

"Not yet," Cynthia answered. "If there's anyone I kill, it's the one who betrayed me again."

"But Queen Cynthia!" Lucian protested.

"Come with me, boy," Cynthia said, grabbing Lucian by the arm. "You shall pay."

* * *

Will found himself kissing Karen on the lips, trapped in her arms. He had given into the torture and allowed her to get what she wanted. However, Karen had bigger and more elaborate ideas.

"You must now bring me to your wife," Karen stated. "Then I will kill her so that we can live married together."

"No way would I do that!" Will shouted.

"Then feel the pain!" Karen yelled, as all her Pokémon attacked him at once.

Will tumbled over in pain, trying to crawl away helplessly. He had no choice but to give in before the Pokémon killed him.

"I'll take you to her," Will said. "But be forewarned: she is much more powerful than me."

* * *

Roxanne led Joe and Cynthia's grandparents deep into the cave, as the pearl continued to glow brightly. They found their way all the way into a passageway which led them to the very center of the cavern, where a ladder stood. All four of them climbed the ladder, and they appeared on top of the cave.

"Where do we go now?" Joe asked.

"Just follow the pearl, follow the pearl," Roxanne said in an enchanting and perhaps disturbing way.

She walked in a few different directions before finding the way in which the pearl shined brightest. She then led them all the way to the edge of the top of the plateau on which they stood, where they found a hole with another ladder, to go back inside the cave.

"I guess we go back down," Joe suggested.

The four reentered the cave, where they noticed a passageway going underground. As the pearl continued to shine, they walked through the passageway, walking long into the deepest parts of the cavern. Finally, at long last, they came to a ladder, which they climbed to enter a room. Inside the room was a wall filled with Unown letters.

"Choose the youngest of the four, they kiss, then continue once more," Roxanne read. "Well, it's obvious who the youngest are."

Joe looked around cluelessly before realizing that this meant that he and Roxanne had to kiss.

"No way!" he shouted. "Giselle would never forgive me!"

"Giselle doesn't need to know," Roxanne replied. "Besides, who needs Giselle?"

Before Joe could say any more, he was grabbed by both of Roxanne's arms, and she brought him in closely and kissed him. He could not help feeling very attracted to Roxanne and enjoying the kiss, but at the same time he knew what the end result of this would be.

After the kiss, Roxanne looked over to notice a hole in the wall, big enough for them to crawl through. She led Joe into the hole, while Cynthia's grandparents stayed behind. They crawled as far as they could into the opening before finally reaching something that they wanted to find so badly.

"It's the Azure Flute!" Roxanne cried. "Arceus, I'm coming to you!"

* * *

Sabrina had finally gotten out of the hospital, and she was slowly feeling better, but one thing remained: an inferiority complex. She could not help but think of Cynthia and feel lesser than her. Surely some of her fears were absolved when Lucian had talked Cynthia into letting her live, but some of them remained. What if Cynthia's anger were to get out of control once more? What if Lucian was not there to defend her? And would she be able to stay away from Cynthia forever? All of these concerns factored into her current state of mind, which was not the best. She desperately just wanted to spend some time with her daughter Roxette and not worry about the outside world for a while.

However, much to her chagrin, someone was coming who was not about to let Sabrina rest for even a minute.

* * *

Cynthia sat upon her throne, while Diane led in a trembling Lucian. Lucian just fell upon the floor, face down to the ground, not even daring to look up at his wife.

"Welcome, boy," Cynthia stated. "Time for your punishment."


	36. Independence Day

Chapter 36

Independence Day

A big smile appeared across Cynthia's face as she looked down at her husband in his hopeless position. She then immediately created a ball of dark energy and hit him with it.

"Queen Cynthia!" Lucian cried out in pain.

"Tell me, boy," Cynthia stated, "why did you think you could get away with it?"

"Get away with what?" Lucian asked.

Cynthia hit Lucian with another ball of energy.

"You know what I am talking about, boy!" Cynthia screamed. "You thought you had the perfect setup, didn't you?"

"I don't understand," Lucian replied, as Cynthia attacked him once more.

"You set that all up perfectly, boy," Cynthia said. "You wanted so badly to be able to kiss that woman, and so you set it up as if you had been kidnapped, just so you could get away with it."

She attacked him again. Lucian tried arguing with her, but he hardly had the breath to speak.

"So, boy, are you happy now?" Cynthia asked, before attacking him once more.

Lucian just lay there on the ground, crying. He only hoped that Cynthia would have mercy on him and allow him to live.

"Speak, boy!" Cynthia yelled.

"Q-Queen C-Cynthia," Lucian stuttered. "That… was never my intent."

He did not even look up to her while speaking, merely staring at the ground.

"I want a worthy husband to be the father to my son, not a worthless boy like you!" Cynthia yelled.

As if those words did not pierce Lucian's heart enough, Cynthia attacked him once more.

"Queen Cynthia!" he cried. "It's all a mistake!"

"How so, boy?" Cynthia asked.

"I never wanted to kiss that woman," he said. "Besides, didn't you kiss Cyrus?"

"You must forget, boy," Cynthia stated. "I am Queen Cynthia! I can do whatever I please!"

"You're also my wife!" Lucian cried, before breaking into gasps for air.

"I am queen first, then your wife!" Cynthia yelled. "At any moment I can end our relationship if I wanted to, but you cannot touch my royalty."

"No, Queen Cynthia, please don't!" the still-gasping Lucian cried.

"It must be made clear to you that if I feel like kissing Cyrus from time to time, I have every right to do so, as queen," Cynthia stated. "You, however, have no royalty and you have no right to kiss anyone else besides me."

"I understand, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

"Now, boy, shall we continue with your punishment?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh, please, have mercy, Queen Cynthia!" Lucian cried.

Cynthia smiled innocently. "Very well, boy, I shall let you live," she stated. "You live knowing that your life is completely at my mercy."

Lucian tried getting up from the ground, but he could not; he was too weak from all of the attacks. He just lay there, face down on the ground before Cynthia, just how Cynthia liked him. And as he lay there, she gently placed her high-heeled feet upon his head, using her helpless husband as her personal footstool.

* * *

Will and Karen flew into Saffron City, where Will dreaded what was to come next. Karen threatened to kill Sabrina, and Will figured the only way to get out of this was to have his wife defeat Karen herself.

He cautiously took Karen to his house, wondering what the response would be from Sabrina. Surely Sabrina could not get that upset, could she?

He opened the door, seeing the bewildered look on Sabrina's face as she looked at Karen standing next to him. She walked up to the two of them, turned to Will, and slapped him across the face.

"Sabrina, it's not what you think," Will said.

"I'm here to kill you," Karen stated.

"But you're going to beat her, right?" Will asked Sabrina.

Sabrina went to shut the door in their faces, but before she could, Karen began creating a ball of dark energy.

"She's serious, Sabrina!" Will shouted.

"Why did you let her come here, then?" Sabrina asked, flabbergasted.

"Because she would have killed me otherwise!" Will yelled.

Karen then knocked Sabrina down with the ball of dark energy, and Will rushed over to help her.

"Why don't you just go help the one you came with?" Sabrina asked.

"It's over for her, Will! Just leave her alone!" Karen screamed, as she began creating a black hole.

"Wait a minute, what is the purpose of your killing?" Will asked. "You kill her, you kill me, then what? You don't really get anything out of it, do you?"

"I get what I want," Karen replied. "Now die, Sabrina!"

But before Karen could suck Sabrina into her black hole, Sabrina and Will had disappeared. They then reappeared behind Karen, outside of the house.

"Your teleportation powers shouldn't be able to work!" she protested.

"We're more powerful than you think," Sabrina replied.

She then sent out her Alakazam and Mr. Mime to face Karen, while Will sent out his Xatu.

"This should be easy," Karen said, as she created another ball of dark energy.

But the Pokémon had different plans. Mr. Mime ran right up to Karen and punched her, causing her to stop creating the energy. Alakazam then tried blasting her with a psychic attack, but it was of no use.

"That's not going to work," Will said. "Nothing psychic will work against her."

"Get away from me!" Karen yelled, pushing away the Mr. Mime. She then created another ball of dark energy, and shot it towards Alakazam. That ball alone was enough to knock out Sabrina's signature Pokémon.

"You know, we could really use Liza right now," Will muttered.

"Liza told me she's busy," Sabrina replied. "She's not bailing us out this time. No, we're going to win this one on our own."

Sabrina had Mr. Mime punch Karen a couple more times, before Karen sent her Umbreon at Mr. Mime to push it away. Xatu tried some Flying attacks at Karen, but none of them worked very well.

"It's only a matter of time," Karen stated, as she began creating more dark energy with her hands.

"Maybe she's right," Sabrina muttered.

"Sabrina!" Will yelled at her.

"I don't know, Will, with all I've seen lately, maybe it just is my destiny to die young," Sabrina stated.

"No!" Will shouted. "Sabrina, you've overcome it all… a harsh past, an epic battle with Team Rocket, even everything Cynthia's done to you! You've lived through it all! Now is not the time to quit… do it for Roxette, if anyone."

Karen ignored Will's encouragement and shot the dark energy right at Sabrina, who seemed to be making no effort to dodge it.

"It's over," Karen stated.

But as Sabrina was about to get hit by the dark energy, she shot back her own dark energy – the power she had acquired after one of her earlier battles with Cynthia.

"What is this?" Karen asked.

"Yes, Karen, I have dark powers myself," Sabrina stated. "And they just might be stronger than yours!"

She attacked Karen relentlessly, while Karen continued her attacks just as forcefully. The two of them went back and forth, for nearly an hour, while Will stood as an innocent bystander, just hoping not to get swept into their attacks.

"Come on, Sabrina!" Will yelled.

Finally, one of the women overpowered the other, and knocked her to the ground. She stood over her, ready to suck her into a black hole.

"Are you ready to die?"

Sabrina looked up at Karen helplessly. Her attacks had ultimately failed. She had no choice but to allow Karen to kill her.

"No, take me with you!" Will cried, running over to Sabrina, who lay helplessly on the ground. As he did, he pushed Karen just enough to allow Sabrina to get up and begin attacking again. Sabrina's next attack hit Karen, but she also mistakenly hit Will as well, knocking him out cold.

"You don't have him to save you anymore," Karen commented. "Now are you prepared to die?"

"I think you'd better be careful yourself," Sabrina replied.

They continued at their battle, ferociously attacking each other nonstop, until finally they were noticed by some Saffron police officers.

"Hey, you're disturbing the peace here!" one of them yelled.

"Stop this or we'll shoot!" another one yelled.

Sabrina immediately stopped, but Karen continued with her attack until Sabrina was knocked to the ground. The police officers then piled on top of them and took them away.

* * *

"These women caused great harm to the city of Saffron," a police officer told a judge. "They deserve to be punished rightfully for causing such trouble."

"Very well, then," the judge said. "The fine for each of you will be one million yen!"

Both women wrote out checks to the Saffron City police department, while staring at each other angrily.

"If you want to battle like this, take it somewhere else – perhaps Sinnoh?" the judge suggested. "But we here in Kanto cannot deal with your behavior."

"These police are ridiculous," Karen commented. "Right now, off in the land of Sinnoh, a cruel tyrant is ruling our world, and none of you do anything about it!"

"We can't!" a police officer replied. "Queen Cynthia is too powerful for us!"

"You even call her queen, let's face it, you've been taken in by her, and now you're willing to die for her," Karen stated.

"Absolutely not!" the police officer responded.

"Then why don't I reveal the real reason I was attacking Sabrina like this," Karen stated. "I know as a fact that Sabrina is one of the most powerful people in the Pokémon world, and I thought that a perfect way to get her to practice using her powers was to have someone powerful like me attack her and threaten her. I actually intend to have Sabrina by my side as we storm that awful queen's castle and take her out of royalty once and for all!"

Sabrina looked skeptical, but did not say anything.

"Sabrina, you and I will field a team of the strongest Pokémon trainers in all the lands, and together we will go to that woman's palace and defeat her," Karen said. "This is the ultimate chance to bring our land our freedom from royalty!"

The police applauded, even as Sabrina remained a bit skeptical. Nevertheless, she was in on Karen's plan. If Karen had indeed just done this in order to help her hone her powers, it had worked. Suddenly Sabrina felt a lot more confident in her own abilities. Maybe it was thanks to Karen that she shook off her inferiority complex, and now was ready to take on Cynthia. She felt a bit bad for Will, who was recovering in the hospital, but perhaps this battle had been a good thing for her. Karen's challenge had brought out the old Sabrina, the one who was always confident and never doubtful. And that was the Sabrina she wished to be.


	37. Stunned

Chapter 37

Stunned

Lucian lay in bed with his queen Cynthia, who seemed not to care about him at all, only about receiving the physical pleasure she gained from their intimacy. He could not help but wonder – where had she gone wrong?

He remembered when she used to care about the opinions of others:

_ "Nonsense, Lucian, what good is becoming queen if it's only by force? I want people to recognize my royalty and respect me."_

"_Lucian, if I do that I'll never be accepted as a queen by the people."_

More importantly, he remembered when she used to care about _his_ feelings:

"_Lucian, why else would I protect you? You're the only one for me."_

"_I mean that I can't take your love freely anymore. From now on, I will make sure I earn your love. I may be queen, but I will make every effort for the rest of my life to make sure that I deserve what I receive from you. I will refuse to just steal your love from you - I will earn it."_

"_I promise never to see that awful Cyrus again."_

"_Lucian, I just want to tell you… I'm sorry."_

"_Lucian, I declare that from now on, you shall be treated like royalty yourself. You no longer need to bow before me."_

"_Lucian, I can never apologize enough for what I did to you. I was wrong. I beg you, please forgive me."_

"_I'm sorry, Lucian. I really am."_

These things had to have been just an illusion, right? With the way she treated him, there was no way any of these things were true. Had she really done this? This may have happened a couple of months ago, back in July (it was now September 9), but the words were still recent enough in his mind to remember. He could never forget them. Surely she did not do that if she did not mean it, but still, maybe it was just a ruse. But now, their love was stale. At least, her love for him seemed to be gone. He still was so attached to her that the very sound of her breathing caused him to feel warm inside. He would look over at her, see her beautiful body, then quickly cover his eyes, as if he had committed a sin by seeing something so gorgeous. Meanwhile, his queen lay there, without a care in the world. Did she love him, or not?

He had to find out. One way or another, he was going to come away with this information.

"Queen Cynthia-"

But before he could continue, Cynthia cut him off.

"Boy, I can't live with you anymore."

Her sentence was a bombshell. Lucian felt like his whole world had just been blown apart. He stumbled to find the words that he wanted to say, but his emotional state left him without anything real to say.

"Queen Cynthia… no…"

"Boy, it's over."

He wanted to tell her to stop calling him "boy," but he realized that she was calling him that for that very purpose.

"Just tell me, Queen Cynthia… why?"

Cynthia turned over on the bed to face Lucian and gave him a cold stare.

"Boy, after your birthday I found out something I've hidden from you, but now you must hear it."

Lucian's eyes grew big with wonder.

"I'm pregnant."

Lucian could not believe it. Cynthia must have been bluffing! After all that insulting of him and pretending to be about to break up with him, she gave him the greatest news he had received since her counterproposal to him! He would be a father of a second child! He smiled with bliss, so happy that he would now have another son, or perhaps a daughter. He began to laugh with glee.

"Oh, Queen Cynthia, I'm so happy! Just what I wanted!"

Cynthia put a finger to his lips, making him wonder a bit why she wanted him to be quiet. Surely she merely wanted it to be a secret, so he closed his mouth, still smiling widely.

"I'm afraid, for your sake, boy, this is not what you wanted."

Lucian looked at Cynthia with a bit of confusion. Surely she did not mean – no, she could not mean that. There was no way she meant that she planned on committing that awful crime – even she had denounced it herself. So what could she possibly mean by it not being what he wanted? Had she perhaps seen doctors, and the baby was bound to have physical problems for the rest of its life? Or was the baby bound to die upon birth?

"Tell me, Queen Cynthia, what's the matter?" he asked. "Is the baby ill? Is it not going to make it?"

"The baby is perfectly healthy, boy," Cynthia replied.

"That's wonderful news!" Lucian exclaimed. "Okay, then if that's not a problem – and it's going to be fine – tell me, what's the matter? Why wouldn't I want another child? You've known I've wanted one."

Cynthia gave him a bit of a smile, as if she was laughing from a joke. She then opened her mouth – which in this case was the equivalent to Lucian of pulling the trigger on a gun.

"The child belongs to Cyrus."

At that moment, Lucian's world collapsed.

"Remember, a few months ago, when Cyrus and I… you know…"

"Queen Cynthia, that's impossible!" Lucian shouted. "There's no way you could have gone a couple months without anyone detecting your pregnancy! If you're really pregnant, then that child must be mine!"

"The other day, I went to the hospital to find out about it, and these doctors with their extreme technology were able to tell exactly how old the baby is – and that it was conceived on July 4, the day after Cyrus and I lay together."

Lucian looked at Cynthia in shock. Surely this could not be the truth. Surely she had to be making this up. This just could not be happening.

"It's all true, boy," Cynthia stated. "I bear Cyrus's child, and because of that, he deserves my love, time and attention."

"What?" Lucian screamed. "How? I'm – I'm your husband! Queen Cynthia, I can live with your child, I can help raise him, I'll do anything. Just please, don't leave me for Cyrus!"

"Boy, don't you understand your position?" Cynthia asked. "You are worthless to me now. At one time you were the father of my only child, and for that reason I felt a need to hang on to you, even when you proved to be inadequate for me. But I have come to the conclusion that Cyrus fits my needs more than you, so I am dropping you. He is more intelligent, he has greater dreams and aspirations, he is better in bed, and he is much more powerful. Therefore I have no use for you anymore."

Lucian felt like he was hanging onto the edge of a cliff, just hoping to hang on to whatever he had left. He had one last resort.

"Roy! Roy's your firstborn child! Would you seriously give up on your firstborn? He has to mean something to you!"

"Of course he does," Cynthia responded. "Roy will always be my little prince."

"And if Roy remains important to you, surely I must be something to you as well! You can't just cast me off! I'm his father!"

"I am Queen Cynthia," Cynthia replied to Lucian in a stern voice. "My decisions are sovereign. You, boy, are useless to me. I want Cyrus, and I will have him. Think about all the ways you are inferior to Cyrus. You obtain your knowledge from books; he needs no books to be intelligent. You have fantasies that come from your fiction stories; he tries to make his dreams become reality. He has dark and psychic powers, and his psychic powers are stronger than yours. Finally, he gives me more pleasure."

Lucian looked utterly desperate. Cynthia was absolutely right about everything she said, how could he argue with her? His only discrepancy with her was about the pleasure part, although that was purely of personal preference.

"No, Queen Cynthia…" he cried.

"This is our final night together," Cynthia stated. "Tomorrow morning, we will go together to court to be divorced, and then you will be banished from my palace – forever."

"But my son lives here! I have a right to see him!"

"What right?" Cynthia asked. "I am the queen, I make the laws. You have no right to trespass on the queen's property, boy."

Lucian sighed. "What can I do to remain here?" he asked. "May I at least lie at your feet as your footstool? Surely you like it when I bow down before you. I will simply lie there, if only to hear your voice. I am that desperate for you, Queen Cynthia – as long as I can be in your presence, I can still live."

"No, boy," Cynthia replied. "Since I am a merciful queen, I will allow you to live. Think of that as my final gift to you – the gift of life."

As tears rolled down Lucian's cheeks, he failed to find the words to say to his queen, who turned away from him. He was so madly in love with her that he was willing to live the rest of his life at her feet, not even looking at her, just hearing her voice, because she meant so much to him. She was more than the world to him. Lucian truly loved her more than he loved himself. A life without her was not worth living. And as he looked over at her with extreme sadness, he could not help but wish that he could start all over again, way back to the way things were fourteen years ago, when the two met.

_Cynthia, very interested in the history of the Sinnoh region, was taking out some books from a library. She met a boy there who is doing the same._

"_Hi, what's your name?" he asked._

"_I'm Cynthia, but you can just call me Princess," Cynthia responded._

"_Princess," the boy responded. "I like that… I'm Lucian."_

_After that day, Lucian began studying about Sinnoh's history with Cynthia. Every day he visited her at her home, where she sat on her throne, pretending to be a princess._

"_Wouldn't it be great if you were a princess someday?" Lucian asked her._

"_Yes, when I grow up I want to be champion of this region, and then queen," Cynthia responded._

_The thought made Lucian smile with glee._

"_You will be, I promise you," he responded._

Lucian thought back on those memories with regret. Cynthia had indeed become queen, as he had promised her. And yet now it was her lust for power that had overcome her love for him. Now he was useless to her, just another human being. Being her husband and the father of her firstborn meant nothing to her. All she cared about was power, and that was something that Cyrus had, but he did not.

He looked over at Cynthia, who faced the other side of the bed. She was mere inches away physically, yet the two could not be further apart. No, that was not true. In Cynthia's mind there was an unbridgeable gap between the two of them, but in his mind she remained as important to him as ever. Silently he cursed her position as queen, cursed Cyrus, cursed the boy she bore, cursed Dialga (whose powers she had obtained), even cursed Sabrina for causing Cynthia such grief and perhaps causing her to become like this. But most of all, he cursed himself, for he had not become enough of a man for her. He was a failure, despite having given everything he had for her. And now, he would be forced to live life without her.

"No!" he cried out, breaking into hysterics.

As he began to cry hysterically, Cynthia got up and left the room. Lucian was partially surprised she did not just kick him out of the bedroom, but she had another bed in which to sleep, in another room. And that was when he came to the sad realization that his life was not worth living without her.


	38. Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 38

Stockholm Syndrome

Back at the Indigo League Headquarters, things were going as usual; Giselle was bragging, Agatha was complaining, and Lorelei and Lance were enjoying their romance with each other. They still felt concerned about what Cynthia could possibly be up to, but some of their fears began to regress when they had not heard anything about her for a while. Maybe she was just content to rule Sinnoh.

The Elite had successfully managed to organize massive cleanup programs which included a disaster restoration project on Cinnabar Island, as well as helping Lt. Surge go back to his gym. Mysteriously, the Galactic members as well as Hunter J had just abandoned his gym, and that made it easier for Surge to get back to his usual business. In fact, ever since Cynthia had moved into her castle on Mt. Coronet, the only time Kanto had any problems was when she asked the whole Pokémon world to bow down before her. And after that incident, Cynthia had not bothered them, so thus peace had returned to Kanto.

The Elite were also happy to hear that the Sinnoh gym leaders, after helping out Karen in her wild plan some time ago, had returned to their usual positions. This made everything all the easier for the Indigo League, which still insisted that it was the most important league, in charge of all the other leagues. Since Cynthia no longer cared about her Champion position and only cared about being queen, the Sinnoh gym leaders were basically under the command of the Indigo League and its Elite.

So with a moment of peace, Lorelei was taking advantage of this time to have a conversation with her mother. Lance watched interestedly in the background as Lorelei was about to finish her call on the videophone.

"Hold on, Lorelei, may I speak to your mother?" Lance asked.

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Go ahead," she muttered.

"Hi, Professor Ivy," Lance said in a charming way. "You look lovely as ever."

"Why, thank you, Lance," Professor Ivy replied. "I hope you are taking care of my Lorelei well."

"Oh, of course I am," Lance stated. "Anything else you want from me?"

"Okay, that's enough flirting with my mother!" Lorelei shouted. "I'm sorry, Mother, but we have to go now."

"That's fine," Professor Ivy responded. "Take care, you two."

As Professor Ivy's beautiful face disappeared from the screen, Lorelei stared angrily at Lance through her glasses. Lance simply gave her a sheepish smile.

"What, I can't help it that your mother has to be the most beautiful woman at her age in the world," Lance said. "Are you going to look like that in 15 years?"

"If I'm lucky," Lorelei replied, thinking about the fact that her mother had become pregnant with her at the age of 15. Now there she was, doing research on Valencia Island, but on some occasions taking the time to be photographed for magazines. She frowned at this notion; her mother was so caught up in her own beauty. It was even more annoying to her that her husband Lance had a not-so-secret crush on her mother, making her feel a bit inferior. And there was no reason for that; after all, no one had a bigger chest than her, although her mother's chest came awfully close.

"Come on, Lorelei, don't feel bad… no one compares to you in beauty," Lance said.

He then reached over and touched her chin gently. "So, you think you can get me to kiss you by doing that?" Lorelei asked.

"Why, yes, I think I can," Lance replied.

Lorelei laughed, then leaned over and kissed him.

"Hey! What's going on in here?"

Lorelei and Lance broke away from the kiss to see Giselle standing at the door.

"What the heck do you think you two are doing? There's important work to be taking care of!" Giselle snapped.

Lance began to chuckle. "Well, that's the first time you've ever wanted to do work… why don't you take care of it yourself?" he replied.

Giselle crossed her arms. "No, this work is your responsibility, I have nothing to do with it," she said.

"What do you mean by that?" Lance responded.

"It's your annoying cousin, she wants to you speak with her," Giselle stated.

Giselle led Lance and Lorelei to another room, where there was a videophone with Clair on the line.

"Apparently she has something important to talk to you about, but she won't tell me," Giselle declared. "Not as if I care."

Lance sat down at the seat across from the videophone. "Hello, Clair?"

"Lance… Karen needs your help," Clair replied.

"For what?" Lance asked. "I thought Karen was off on her quest of being the 'chosen one' or whatever."

"She says she has the perfect plan to take Cynthia out of power, but it will take the most powerful trainers," Clair said. "That includes you, Lorelei and me."

"But wasn't it Karen who miserably failed in a mission to take down Cynthia just a few months ago?" Lance questioned. "And wasn't her plan eerily similar to what you're suggesting?"

"I guess I'll have to tell Karen that you're in favor of Cynthia as queen, then," Clair responded.

"No, that's not it, I just don't want to be risking my life over this!" Lance said.

"If you're not interested in risking your life for the betterment of the Pokémon world, then stay in your high-class place up there in the mountains," Clair stated. "But if you are willing to do whatever it takes to free our lands from Cynthia's rule, then bring Lorelei to Goldenrod City."

Lance reluctantly agreed to Clair's plans. Lorelei, who listened to the whole conversation, was completely willing to fight. Giselle, who also listened in, felt a bit of jealousy for not being included in the talk of the "most powerful trainers."

"We've got to go," Lance told Giselle.

"What, you're just going to leave me here with the old hag?" Giselle replied.

"That's right," Lance said. "Have fun."

Lance and Lorelei then took off, flying on Lance's Dragonite. Giselle simply stared into the distance with annoyance.

"Joe, the 'chosen one,'" Giselle muttered. "Lance and Lorelei, the 'most powerful trainers.' What good are three Pokémon League championships if no one recognizes me for them?"

* * *

Cynthia and Lucian appeared in a courtroom together, where Cynthia was prepared to file the papers to officially divorce Lucian. Lucian hoped that she would have a change of heart, but she was steadfast in her plan. She filled out the papers, then handed them over to a judge.

"Queen Cynthia, if there's anything I can do to-"

"Quiet, boy!"

Cynthia reached for the wedding band on her ring finger, then violently pulled it off. She was about to give it to the judge when Lucian put his hand out.

"What do you want it for, boy?" Cynthia asked.

"Memories," Lucian replied. "Or if you ever change your mind…"

"Forget it, boy!" Cynthia snapped.

"Queen Cynthia, I love you," Lucian declared.

"Boy, if I ever see you again, I will not hesitate to kill you," Cynthia replied coldly. "Now go away, to a place where there is no chance of us ever meeting again."

"Oh, so you still do love me, because you don't want to kill me..."

"Silence, boy! Go away!"

Lucian bowed to Cynthia, then teleported away.

"Good riddance," Cynthia muttered. "Now to find my true love, Cyrus…"

* * *

Lucian had teleported to Sunyshore City. There was one thing on his mind, a very depressing topic. He hated to think about it, but there was no other choice. Life without Cynthia was no life at all. So he began contemplating how he was going to go about it, when a couple of people noticed him.

"Lucian!" a girl cried.

She rushed over to him, with her boyfriend following along. It was Candice, Snowpoint City gym leader, along with Volkner, the gym leader of Sunyshore City.

"Lucian, why are you here?" Candice asked. "Shouldn't you be with Queen Cynthia?"

Lucian had a hard time trying to come up with the words to explain the situation. "Queen Cynthia… she divorced me."

"Divorced?" Candice gasped. "That's awful!"

"You're better off," Volkner told Lucian. "Some queen she is."

"Don't insult Queen Cynthia!" Lucian exclaimed. "She may no longer be my wife, but she's still my queen."

"Come on, let's talk about this someplace else," Candice said.

The three trainers went to Volkner's gym, where Lucian began to explain the story to them. The whole time, Lucian's face gave off the most hopeless, melancholy expression.

"She… she had a baby with another man?" Candice asked.

"Yes," Lucian said. "This man – Cyrus – conned her into laying with her by holding me hostage. As it turns out, Queen Cynthia loved his presence so much that she considered him in all ways to be superior to me, so she considered me no longer worthwhile."

"I've always known she was rotten, but I never knew she was this bad," Volkner stated. "She is a truly despicable woman."

"You can't say stuff like that about her!" Lucian cried. "Queen Cynthia is truly a wonderful human being. Her judgments are sovereign; she was right. I am inferior to Cyrus; I am useless to her."

"Don't say that, Lucian!" Candice exclaimed. "You know that's not true!"

"But it is," Lucian replied.

"She's brainwashed him, that's what," Volkner said. "She has great powers, and her powers must include mind control. I can't think of a more evil human being."

"Stop talking like that about my queen!" Lucian cried.

"What is your problem?" Volkner snapped. "Look at my girlfriend's face; she wears permanent scars thanks to your queen. She is the epitome of everything evil and rotten. If you don't wake up, you're going to end up wasting your life!"

"My life is useless without her," Lucian said. "I want to die."

"Lucian!" Candice shouted. "Quick, Volkner, call the hospital! If we don't do something, he's going to kill himself!"

"My life's not worth living, don't waste your time," Lucian continued.

"Volkner, call someone!" Candice yelled.

Volkner sat back and gave a wry smile. "No, Candice, we need to let this guy go through with his plan," he said. "Let him try to kill himself… he's so pathetic he probably can't even do that."

"Volkner, I can't believe you would say something like that!" Candice exclaimed.

Volkner whispered something in Candice's ear. Lucian, however, knew exactly what he said.

"You can't hide your thoughts from me, for I am a psychic," Lucian told them. "I see that you're using some sort of psychology to try to convince me otherwise, but it's not working. I have no use to live without my queen. Please, I ask you, please kill me."

"We'd never do that!" Candice shrieked.

Volkner smiled. "With pleasure," he said, as Candice gave a shocked expression. "Luxray, go!"

Luxray appeared on the ground next to Lucian's chair. Lucian looked down at the Pokémon with the same glum expression on his face.

"Luxray, use Discharge on this man!" Volkner shouted.

"Thank you," Lucian stated.

But right before Luxray could attack Lucian, Candice sent out her Snover to stop it.

"Snover, freeze that Luxray with Blizzard!" Candice called.

As Snover attacked Luxray, Volkner gave Candice a competitive smile.

"So, you want to battle?" he asked. "Fine, Luxray, turn your Discharge towards Snover!"

So Luxray and Snover went all-out against each other, in a vicious Pokémon battle. Both Pokémon were quite strong and held their own against each other.

"Volkner, you don't seem to be as great as you make yourself out to be!" Candice exclaimed.

"Patience, Candice, I'm slowly winning this one," Volkner replied.

And as their Pokémon continued to fight each other fiercely, Lucian got up from his chair and slowly began to make his way towards the exit of the gym. He realized that his talk with the two trainers had been fruitless; if anything, he had caused more trouble, by inducing the Pokémon battle.

"Snover, finish him!" Candice shouted.

"No way, Luxray, you win this!" Volkner yelled.

But as Lucian was about to escape, he suddenly had a brilliant idea. What better way to go out but within the crossfire of two Pokémon's violent attacks? It was a hasty decision, not one he thought too much about, but nevertheless once he made this choice there was no going back. So he teleported right in between the Luxray and Snover. Within seconds the Snover had frozen him and the Luxray had electrocuted him.

"Lucian!" Candice gasped. "Snover, return!"

Volkner looked shocked himself. When he originally told his Luxray to attack Lucian, his thought was that Lucian would not bear to be attacked, and that he would simply teleport away. He never thought Lucian would actually go through with such a plan. He quickly called back his Luxray.

"Now look what you did, Volkner!" Candice shouted. "He might be dead!"

"I'll call the paramedics right away," Volkner replied.

As Volkner went to make the call, Candice tried helping Lucian, but it was of no use. Lucian was frozen solid and completely fried from the electric shock. Candice came to one conclusion, and it was a sad one: Lucian was dead.

But could it have been just what Lucian wanted?


	39. Missing Link

Chapter 39

Missing Link

Cyrus was now staying in a house outside of Mt. Coronet with Hunter J as well as his three commanders, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Cyrus, who had obtained psychic powers over the course of several years, was able to sense that Cynthia wanted him as opposed to Lucian. J also had psychic powers, and she sensed the same thing. Both of them were quite happy.

"Finally, I won't have to live with you anymore," J told Cyrus.

"Anything would be better than being stuck with you," Cyrus replied.

"Lucian is mine," J stated. "There's nothing he can do now to save himself from me."

"And I have been chosen by the queen," Cyrus said. "Perfection is coming, my children, and it will all be thanks to Cynthia's love for me."

Although Saturn bristled at the idea of being called "children," he, like Mars and Jupiter, was happy to hear that Cyrus was closer to achieving his goal of creating a perfect world. After all, they figured that Cynthia was the one holding on to the Adamant Orb.

"It shouldn't be difficult for me to get the Adamant Orb off her hands once we are together, making love to each other," Cyrus told his commanders. "And when I do, we will enter the new world together."

"Don't you believe her when she said that it doesn't exist anymore?" J asked Cyrus.

"That was a lie," Cyrus responded. "I'm sure it still exists, just as much as the shards of the Lustrous Orb still exist."

"Well, I won't need this anymore then," J said, tossing her shard of the Lustrous Orb to Cyrus. "I can have Lucian without worrying about that queen."

"Fine," Cyrus replied. "I'll try to spare you when I create my new world, but I offer no guarantees."

"Whatever," J said, not caring about this "perfect world" Cyrus expected to create.

* * *

Cyrus used his teleportation skills to appear in Cynthia's castle. There she sat upon her throne, looking very lonely, with her Lucario kneeling before her.

"Oh, Lucario, I never thought I would feel this way," Cynthia muttered, in a regretful voice.

Cyrus walked out in front of her throne, expecting her to notice him. She continued staring at her Lucario, before pointing at Cyrus and then to the ground.

"Huh?" Cyrus wondered.

"Bow down," Cynthia stated.

Cyrus wasted little time in dropping to his knees and bowing his head before Cynthia, who called back her Lucario to its Poké Ball. She smiled slightly as she looked down at the bowing Cyrus.

"So, you have come here to take your position as my new lover?" Cynthia asked.

"That is correct," Cyrus responded.

Cynthia frowned. "I demand respect, boy!" she shouted. "You can call me 'queen,' or 'your majesty,' or 'your highness,' whichever you choose. But you don't speak to the queen without giving her respect!"

"I am sorry, your majesty," Cyrus said.

Cynthia felt a little comforted by hearing him respect her. "Since you are psychic, I think there's little chance you don't already know the truth," she stated.

"That you bear my child?" Cyrus asked.

"So you know the reason I have chosen you," Cynthia responded. "Very well, then, Cyrus, my bed belongs to you now, and we shall become officially married soon."

"I am happy to hear it, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus stated, lifting his head up to see her.

"Bow, boy!" Cynthia snapped. "I did not tell you that you may look on my face! Looking at my beauty is a privilege that only a select few may enjoy. You shall be one of them if you first learn to respect me properly."

"I apologize, your highness," Cyrus replied, quickly bowing his head again.

Cynthia's sister Diane walked into the throne room. She quickly bowed before Cynthia and then looked up at her older sister.

"So, Queen Sister, this is the man you've chosen?" Diane asked.

"What of him?" Cynthia asked.

"He's not very much to look at," Diane replied. "And he's just as pathetic as the last one."

"You just do your job of raising Roy for me, girl," Cynthia stated. "I'll take care of who is and isn't part of my life."

Cyrus bristled from his lowly position, but what could he do? He just continued to stare at the ground, wondering exactly what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Candice and Volkner went to the hospital to check on Lucian. While Volkner could not care less about Lucian as a person, he definitely was concerned about possibly being held accountable for Lucian's death.

"Lucian! Lucian! Are you alive?" Candice called out to him.

"Don't be silly, the doctors would not have allowed us in here if he was dead," Volkner replied.

He then looked at the lifeless-looking Lucian.

"Or maybe they would…"

Candice reached out and grabbed Lucian's right hand, but then she suddenly screamed and pulled it back.

"What's the matter?" Volkner asked.

"I just got electrically shocked by touching his hand," Candice complained. "Try touching his hand."

Volkner gave Candice a suspicious look before reaching out and touching Lucian's left hand. His hand did not get shocked, but instead it felt extremely cold. He pulled it back and saw that it was surrounded by a sheet of ice.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Volkner questioned. "This guy must still be suffering from the aftereffects of his injuries."

Lucian then opened his eyes. He was not wearing his glasses, so he immediately began feeling around for them.

"Oh, your glasses?" Candice asked. "Here they are."

She handed them over to him, but as he took them off her, he ended up shocking her again.

"Ow!" she screamed. "What is with your hands?"

"I don't understand," Lucian replied.

"Every time you touch me, you shock me, and when you touch Volkner, you freeze him," Candice explained.

Lucian looked confused for a moment, then thought of an idea.

"Stand back," he told the two trainers.

He then stretched out his right arm and began shooting out electricity from his hand. After that, he stretched out his left arm and began shooting out ice from it.

"You've… obtained powers?" Candice said.

"Apparently, from what Queen Cynthia told me, by suffering a near-death experience due to attacks of certain types, you can gain the power of those types if you survive," Lucian responded. "I must have gained these powers from your Pokémon attacking me."

"We're sorry," Candice said.

"Wait a minute – no, we're not sorry!" Volkner exclaimed. "In fact, you should be thanking us!"

"What do you mean?" asked Lucian.

"Because now you can use these newfound powers to take down the man who Cynthia chose instead of you," Volkner explained. "You can defeat him, and then she'll realize that you were the stronger man after all."

Lucian frowned. "I'm sorry, I can't do that," he said. "Queen Cynthia's decisions are sovereign. She chose Cyrus over me, and that is how it shall be. I have no right to go attacking her new lover and trying to steal him off her."

"But isn't that what you want?" Volkner asked. "You want this queen of yours so bad that you're willing to commit suicide because you can't live with her. Instead of killing yourself, be a man and fight for your position! Go beat this Cyrus and take his position from him!"

"I'm not sure," Lucian replied. "I don't know if Queen Cynthia would approve. Right now I just have to learn to control my powers."

* * *

Roxanne held the Azure Flute in her hands, yet did not know what to do. For she, Joe and both of Cynthia's grandparents had tried playing it, and yet failed to hear or see anything happen. For all they knew, Arceus could have been summoned, but maybe he went somewhere else in the world. Or maybe this was not the Azure Flute, but a fake. Something was wrong, and it was killing her inside.

"This isn't fair! I did all I could to meet you, Arceus, but now I can't find you," Roxanne muttered.

"It's no use," Joe replied. "I guess we're just never going to see Arceus."

"No, we will meet Arceus, no matter what!" Roxanne exclaimed angrily. "We just have to figure out how to play this flute correctly, that's all."

"Maybe an expert flute-player could help us out," Joe suggested.

"No, that makes no sense," Carolina said.

"Why not?" Joe asked.

"Because we've tried every way there is to play the flute," Carolina replied. "If it's not working, it's not working, that's simply how it is."

"Perhaps we missed a legend, or something," Cynthia's grandfather said. "There must be some sort of missing link."

"Let's go back into the cave," Roxanne suggested. "Maybe the pearl will lead us somewhere that will tell us the information we need."

So the four travelled back into the cave, noticing how the pearl would glow on and off. They tried getting it to stay bright consistently, but it just would not glow the way they wanted it. However, after a while, they noticed that travelling on one side of the cave caused the pearl to at least shine brighter than on the other side, even if it did not stay that bright constantly. That caused them to spend their time on that side of the cave, which was very dark.

As they moved further into the cave, Joe accidentally tripped, and as Roxanne let out a hand to help him up, she fumbled the pearl. The pearl dropped to the ground, then shone as bright as ever.

"What does this mean?" Joe asked.

"The answer must lie underground," Roxanne replied.

The four spent the next few hours digging a hole, trying to get underground. Roxanne even used her Pokémon to bury underground, until she finally decided to follow them on a path they had created. She crawled through the hole, with Joe following her, while Cynthia's grandparents stayed above ground. Eventually, Roxanne and Joe came to a dead end, with the pearl shining very brightly.

"What do we do now?" Joe asked.

"Look!" Roxanne exclaimed.

There in front of them was a stone plaque with writing in Unown letters. Roxanne quickly read it and figured out what it meant. However, she was now as confused as ever.

"Only a chosen one may play the melody of the Azure Flute," Roxanne read.

"But we are all chosen ones," Joe replied.

"I know," Roxanne replied. "I don't understand."

They came up from underground and told Cynthia's grandparents about what they had found, but they still had no answer. Joe was ready to give up.

"Come on, let's go back to that island," Joe suggested. "There's nothing more we can find here."

"You're right," Carolina replied. "We've searched this place as much as we could to find the answer."

Roxanne looked forlorn. Surely she did not want to leave without finding Arceus.

_Why, Arceus?_ Roxanne wondered. _Why won't you reveal yourself to me?_


	40. Russian Roulette

Chapter 40

Russian Roulette

Cynthia and Cyrus were lying together on her bed, sometime early in the morning. Cynthia suddenly rolled over away from Cyrus, seemingly angry.

"What is it?" Cyrus asked.

"I'm not pleased with you," Cynthia replied.

Cyrus looked a bit taken aback at Cynthia's comment. "Why?" he asked.

"Apparently I was wrong about you," Cynthia told him. "You have failed to satisfy me. That boy was more adequate than you are."

Cyrus gave her an even more confused look.

"Your goal is to please me," Cynthia stated. "If you wish to be close to me, you have to remember that fulfilling my desires is your number one goal. It is of no concern to me whether or not you receive your own pleasure, but it must be your number one concern to make sure I am pleased."

Cyrus seemed to ignore Cynthia completely, not really caring about what she was saying. Instead he changed the subject completely.

"Queen Cynthia, I wish to know if you have the Adamant Orb," he stated.

Cynthia frowned at his request. "Such ignorance," she said. "Maybe I was better off with that boy."

"Please, just tell me," Cyrus said.

"Fine, you wish to know, I shall tell you," Cynthia responded. "It no longer exists."

Cyrus gritted his teeth. "You've said that before, and I don't believe you," he said. "Where is it?"

"Why would you not believe the queen?" Cynthia asked. "I have nothing to gain by lying. The fact remains that your precious Adamant Orb is no longer in existence."

"Fine, then, say I do believe that," Cyrus replied. "How do you know it is gone?"

"I used it," Cynthia stated.

"You… you used it?" Cyrus replied with incredulity. "I certainly don't believe that! Had you used the Adamant Orb, Dialga would have destroyed this world, and none of us would be alive!"

"Doubt if you wish, but that is the truth," Cynthia said.

"How, then?" Cyrus asked. "Explain it to me!"

"The queen does not take demands," Cynthia replied.

Cyrus's face grew angrier, but he swallowed his pride enough to make a request. "Please, Queen Cynthia, tell me how it happened."

Cynthia smiled slightly. "The Adamant Orb was part of my ultimate plan," she stated. "With it I was able to summon the legendary Pokémon Dialga. Once Dialga appeared, I used my own powers to counterattack the Pokémon."

Cyrus groaned. "That's impossible!" he claimed. "No one has the powers to take down a legendary Pokémon!"

"You obviously underestimate me, then," Cynthia replied. "My dark powers were more than enough to counter Dialga's attacks. And after a long time – about a whole day – I was able to weaken Dialga enough so that I sucked it right into my very hands. And now, I am one with Dialga."

Cyrus tried to keep himself from laughing. "Please, Queen Cynthia, enough with the big talk," he said. "As much as you want me to believe you're ultra-powerful, I don't believe for a second that you have Dialga's power within you."

"Would you like to make a bet?" Cynthia replied.

"What do you mean?" Cyrus asked.

"We'll play a little game," Cynthia said with a smile. "If you win the game, I'll marry you. If you lose the game… you die."

"What kind of game is this?" Cyrus questioned angrily. "I thought you were going to marry me anyway!"

"And I still will if you win the game," Cynthia said. "But I'm afraid you won't."

* * *

Roxanne, Joe and Cynthia's grandparents had returned to Shamouti Island, where they met up with Gary and Melody, who were relaxing on the island, or at least as much as they could with all the natives chanting and marching through their rituals. They told Gary and Melody about their problems with the Azure Flute, and Gary had a simple answer.

"Just give it to Melody!" Gary exclaimed. "She's an expert flute player!"

Roxanne became indignant at Gary's idea.

"She is _not_ one of the chosen ones!" she snapped. "Only a chosen one may play this flute!"

"Chosen ones?" Gary asked.

"Oh, forget it, Gary, I don't care about any stupid flute," Melody added. "I only play this one because I was forced to."

"Come on, just let her try it, maybe she'll make it work," Gary pleaded with Roxanne.

"Absolutely not!" Roxanne exclaimed. "Now stop bothering us!"

But Joe had other ideas.

"Roxanne," Joe said, "maybe you ought to give her the pearl."

"Oh, if you insist, Joe," Roxanne replied.

Roxanne handed the pearl over to Melody, who reluctantly took it in her hands. As she grabbed it, the pearl turned pitch black, causing Roxanne to immediately reach over and snatch it off her.

"See, she's absolutely not one of the chosen ones!" Roxanne said. "Now we don't want someone like that to be touching something which belongs to Arceus!"

Joe sighed. He hated the fact that he had gotten pulled into this, and he hated even more the fact that he had kissed Roxanne. He wished to be with Giselle again.

"Roxanne," Joe said.

"Yes?" Roxanne replied.

"I'd like to leave this mission," Joe stated. "It's looking to me to be quite fruitless, and I don't really even understand what our goals are anyway. I thought the original goal was to stop Cynthia, not to be one with Arceus."

"We're going to find Arceus, whether you think it's going to happen or not," Roxanne responded. "We've had some bad luck recently, but I truly believe it is going to happen."

"But Roxanne," Joe said, "I don't think I want to be one with Arceus… I want to live my life normally."

Roxanne wrinkled her nose at Joe's statement. "You mean… you want to go back to that girl of yours?" she said.

"That's right," Joe replied. "Giselle means a lot to me."

"I won't let you!" Roxanne shouted. "You and I were meant to be together!"

Joe looked incredulous. "What are you talking about?" he exclaimed.

"The pearl – the pearl!" she replied, in her usual enchanting way of saying that word. "The pearl shines when we're together! The pearl belongs to Arceus – it cannot be wrong! Trust the pearl!"

Joe wanted to call Roxanne "crazy," but he respected his former teacher enough not to say that. "I don't think the pearl means all that much," he stated.

"Yes, it does!" Roxanne replied. "The pearl is beyond important – it is so special that only the few of us who are chosen ones are allowed to receive its power and knowledge. It came from Arceus himself – do you understand how important that is?"

"I'm not quite sure," Joe said.

"The great Pokémon Arceus – you don't understand how much it means to have something that came from him?" Roxanne replied. "I'm ashamed of you, Joe; I thought I taught you so much!"

"You did, but not about Arceus…" Joe stated.

"Well, let me tell you exactly how important Arceus is," she said. "You too!"

She gathered Gary and Melody over to her, then began a long lecture on Arceus. Meanwhile, Cynthia's grandparents had disappeared, without anyone noticing their absence.

* * *

"So, what is this game?" Cyrus asked, as he and Cynthia had gotten out of bed and changed into their normal clothing.

"It's quite simple, actually," Cynthia stated. "I am going to snap my fingers. You then should die instantly. If you don't die, then you win, and we shall be married."

Cyrus began to chuckle. "You mean, you think you can kill me with the snap of your fingers?" he asked.

"I know I can," Cynthia replied.

"Very well," Cyrus said. "You may snap them when ready."

Cynthia paused for a moment. "It is unusual for me to grant my victims mercy, but I shall do so in this case only," she stated. "If you wish to live, you may leave this castle immediately, and I shall not hold it against you. We will not marry, but you will at least live on – which is in itself a reward, granted to you by your queen."

Cyrus looked around, trying to find the exit. Maybe it would be better to escape – what if Cynthia was telling the truth about all of these things? Then perhaps he would die – and all his planning would go to naught. But that made little sense, he thought. If he did die, then that would mean that Cynthia had used up the Adamant Orb, so there was no reason to live anyway. He had all his eggs in one basket, and he was ready to crack them.

"I refuse," he stated.

"Very well, then," Cynthia stated. "You shall die."

Snap!

Cyrus's body fell to the ground instantly. Cynthia stood over him, looking down at his body. As a queen, she refused to lower herself to even touch him.

"I suppose this is one of the drawbacks of having so much power," she stated.

She then walked out of the room, ready to call someone to carry Cyrus's body out.

* * *

Joe sighed as Roxanne continued her lecture. She had fully ingrained herself into a cult following of Arceus, so much that she believed every legend and myth about Arceus without a bit of doubt. It frustrated Joe somewhat that the pearl glowed when around him, making him one of the "chosen ones" – and thus forcing him to be around her.

"My old boyfriend Brawly, he didn't believe in Arceus," Roxanne commented. "So I dumped him, what a waste he was."

"Maybe you ought to show Brawly the pearl," Joe suggested.

"What do you mean?" Roxanne asked.

"Well, maybe he didn't believe you before, but perhaps he would believe you if you showed him the pearl," Joe said. "Maybe if he just had a little bit of proof in Arceus's power, he'd believe you."

"I don't know," Roxanne muttered.

"Just think about it, he did mean a lot to you before," Joe said. "To dump someone so quickly just doesn't make sense."

Roxanne thought about Joe's words carefully, while being careful not to say anything that she thought might be against her beliefs in Arceus. "We'll see," she said.

"In the meantime," Gary suggested, "I think there's no problem in at least letting Melody try to play your flute."

"But if she's not a chosen one, it won't matter!" Roxanne replied.

"Who knows, maybe Melody's skillful playing will cause the flute to do something it wouldn't ordinarily do," Gary commented.

"Gary, just cut it out," Melody said. "I don't want to play it anyway; I don't care about whether they get to see their precious legendary Pokémon or not."

"Just try it," Gary said.

Joe motioned for Roxanne to give Melody the flute, and she reluctantly did so. Melody took the flute into her hands, looked at it closely, then brought it up to her mouth. What happened next was a surprise to at least one of the people sitting there.


	41. Q&A

Chapter 41

Q&A

As Cynthia sat on her throne in a lonely state, she was greeted by her little sister, who was curious about what had happened to Cyrus.

"Where's your new boyfriend, Queen Sister?" Diane questioned.

"I killed him," Cynthia replied.

"Killed?" Diane responded. "Well, I didn't think too much of him, but wasn't he the father of your unborn child?"

Cynthia glared at her younger sister.

"Go take care of Roy for me," she stated.

"Yes, Queen Sister," Diane said with a bow, and she scampered out of the room.

Cynthia continued to sit there, alone. She wondered if killing Cyrus was the right move – all over Cyrus's arrogance and his failure to please her for one night. It was too late to worry about that now. She had to move on.

But it was perhaps her reluctance to move on from Lucian that had caused this to occur. She had constantly compared Cyrus to Lucian – "that boy," as she called him – and Cyrus's unfavorable comparison to him had caused her anger to build up to the point that she let it all out, in one snap of her fingers.

She knew now what she had to do. There was very little time remaining, she noticed, before her final plan was to get underway. The pawns had begun their march, calling for the one who they thought would save them. The queen was all set for that attack; all that was necessary was to regain the king.

* * *

Roxanne, Joe and Gary stared at Melody in stunned silence. After a few moments, Roxanne finally spoke up.

"I told you so!" she snapped.

"Well, it was worth the try!" Gary replied.

"Nothing happened, just as I thought," Roxanne said. "Give me back that Azure Flute; it doesn't deserve to be touched by someone who isn't a chosen one."

Melody handed over the flute. She had played it, or at least attempted to play it, but no sound emerged from it, and nothing else of note happened.

"Your flute is a dud," she told Roxanne. "That's your problem."

"No, it's not!" Roxanne snapped back. "The problem was you! You may have cursed it with your unchosen lips!"

Melody tried to hold herself back from laughing, while Gary glared angrily at Roxanne.

"You know, maybe you ought to give up this whole chase for Arceus," Gary said. "It doesn't seem to be working."

"Never!" Roxanne replied. "I would never give up on Arceus! Someday I will be one with him!"

"Doesn't sound like too much fun," Gary snickered.

"You'll be sorry someday," Roxanne stated. "Arceus shall use his Judgment on you and destroy you."

Gary broke into an all-out laugh, and Melody began to pull him away.

"Come on, we don't have to put up with these hippies anymore," she told him. "Let's go."

As the couple walked away, Joe looked at Roxanne seriously.

"You know, maybe they're right…" he mused.

"You too, Joe?" Roxanne asked. "Please, don't subject yourself to the Judgment of Arceus!"

"I'm sorry, but I never believed in Arceus before I saw the pearl," Joe stated.

"And that's the key," Roxanne replied. "The pearl, the pearl! The pearl is the proof given to us by Arceus of his existence. You just must believe in the pearl!"

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "That pearl seems to have sent us more mixed signals than anything," he said. "I'm returning to Giselle."

He pulled out the Poké Ball which held the giant Pidgeotto. "Sorry, Roxanne, but I'm afraid this is good-bye."

"Wait!" Roxanne shouted. "If you leave me without the Pidgeotto, I won't have a way of returning to the mainland!"

"Then come with me… or wait here for Arceus," Joe responded.

Roxanne thought about it for a moment, before becoming very serious.

"I'm sorry, Arceus, for doubting you even for a second," Roxanne said. "I vow to stay here on this island until I meet you."

Joe was somewhat surprised that Roxanne spoke to Arceus instead of to the one standing next to her.

"Fine," Joe stated. "I'm leaving… I'll miss you, Roxanne."

"Good-bye, Joe," Roxanne replied. "I'll request to Arceus to be merciful on you… but I can't make any guarantees."

"Okay," Joe responded.

He took off on the giant Pidgeotto, leaving Roxanne sitting on the island by herself. She refused to leave the island; while she believed that Arceus could find her no matter where she was, she did not want to leave the island for fear that Arceus may see it as her doubting him.

* * *

Lucian lay in his hospital bed, with no one else in the room. He sensed something had happened to change his luck, but he could not figure exactly what it was. However, it was only a matter of minutes until he found out that his feelings were right.

"Lucian."

Before him stood the woman of his dreams, the one who had rejected him so coldly, yet the one on whom his entire life was based.

"Queen Cynthia!"

"How have you been, Lucian?"

Lucian had a hard time finding the words to say. Not only was he shocked that Cynthia had come to see him, but she spoke his name – a sign that she viewed him in a more positive light.

"Queen Cynthia… I'm just so happy to see you again," he replied.

Cynthia stared at him for a moment. Lucian could tell that she was reading his mind.

"You have acquired powers," she stated.

Lucian simply nodded, afraid of how she would respond.

"Why don't you show them to me?" she asked.

Lucian almost shuddered at the thought. _This can't end well,_ he figured.

He reached out his hand, about to show his powers, when he suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter?" Cynthia asked.

"I don't want to hurt you," Lucian replied.

Cynthia chuckled. "Oh, you couldn't possibly do that," she told him.

Lucian nodded, then shot some electricity out of his right hand. As it came towards Cynthia, she simply absorbed it into her left hand.

"And your other power?" she asked.

Lucian reached out his other hand, then shot ice towards Cynthia, who simply absorbed it into her right hand.

"Thank you, Lucian," she told him, then turned around from him.

"No, don't leave again," Lucian pleaded.

Cynthia turned back towards him and smiled. "Oh, just teasing you!" she said. "You know what I realized?"

Lucian shook his head.

She leaned in closer to him, then whispered into his ear.

"I truly loved you – and only you – the whole time."

The thought made Lucian feel incredibly warm inside. These were words he never expected to hear from her, yet she really had just spoken them to him. Was she just playing with him, though? Was it all just a tease?

"Come on," she told him. "Get out of that bed and join me."

"Where are we going?" Lucian asked, reaching out to take her hand.

"You still have that ring, don't you?" she asked him.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the wedding band that Cynthia had taken off her finger when she divorced him.

"It's time to make things right," she said.

Lucian nodded slowly, still in shock, as he took her hand. Suddenly they teleported out of the hospital room.

* * *

Hunter J met with the three commanders of Team Galactic to tell them the grim news.

"Cyrus is dead," she stated coldly.

The commanders looked at each other in confusion, not knowing how to react.

"Did you kill him?" Saturn asked.

"No," J responded. "Why would I do something like that?"

"Well, I thought you two hated each other," Saturn said.

"Hated? I think that's a pretty strong word," J stated. "But in any case, your leader is gone for good."

"What then happens to our plans?" Mars asked. "What are we going to do?"

"Beats me," J replied. "It's not like I care. I got the money I wanted, now I'm through with you people."

"Not so fast," Jupiter stated. "I think there's reason to suspect you in killing him. After all, how do we know he's dead?"

"Trust a psychic's instincts," J said. "He's dead, and I didn't kill him."

"I think it's reasonable to suspect her," Mars told Jupiter. "After all, there's no one else who would have a reason to kill him."

"Cynthia?" J asked.

"Cynthia wanted to marry him!" Saturn shouted. "There's no way she would have killed him!"

"Well, I don't understand it, but I'm not sticking around to find out what happens," J stated. "You're on your own now."

But before J could leave, Mars came up with a suggestion.

"How about we pay you to find Cyrus's killer – and take revenge on him or her for us?" Mars suggested.

J gritted her teeth. Sure, she loved money – but this was not something she wanted to get involved in.

"Look, he's your leader – you find out," J said.

"Oh, but you loved him!" Jupiter retorted.

J covered her face with her hand, not wanting to show her expression to the Galactic commanders. "I'm not getting involved," she stated. "Sorry, I'm just not."

"We won't believe that you didn't kill him until you find his killer," Mars said. "And then we expect you to take revenge on his killer."

J sighed. "This is ridiculous," she said. "At least I was nice enough to tell you that he was dead, instead of forcing you three to sit around waiting forever for him to return. Now just leave me alone!"

She teleported away in a fury.

* * *

Candice and Volkner went to go check in on the injured Lucian. When they arrived in his hospital room, they found that he was missing.

"What happened to him?" Candice asked.

"Surely he wouldn't teleport away while he was still recovering," Volkner figured. "Someone must have taken him from here."

"But who could have gotten past security?" Candice asked.

"Only someone who could teleport," Volkner answered.

"You mean…" Candice began.

"Yes, I think Cynthia paid him a visit," Volkner finished. "And I have a bad feeling what she did to him."

* * *

Cynthia and Lucian stood together in front of a judge, renewing their vows to each other. This was nothing like their glamorous wedding, held in front of hundreds of Sinnoh citizens. Instead, they were all alone, in a small room. Yet they did not care. For Lucian, life was perfect again. He was with his queen, and now he could go on living. For Cynthia, she felt complete again. As much as she hated to admit it, her life was not complete without Lucian.

* * *

Giselle sat alone in her room, when she suddenly heard all sorts of strange noises. It sounded like a violent storm was pounding the building. She did not know how to react, so she stayed seated, just waiting for the sound to subside. But it continued on and on, until the room began to glow all sorts of strange colors. She actually felt scared about whatever it was that was occurring, and she wanted to escape. But as she rushed toward the door, hoping to run away, a voice called out to her, calling her by name. And then, she saw the most frightening thing she had ever seen in her life.

She could only scream in horror.


	42. Change The World

Chapter 42

Change The World

Just outside Cynthia's castle, Karen led a group of trainers in a march. She suddenly stopped and turned to them.

"This is it," she stated. "Sabrina, Lorelei, Lance… and little girl whose name I don't know, this is our big opportunity!"

"It's Liza."

"Liza, what are you doing here?" Sabrina asked, seeing Liza step in front of her.

"I figured I'd help you out," she replied.

"So you've been reading my mind the whole time, knowing exactly what I've been planning on doing?" Sabrina asked, with a sigh.

"That's right!" Liza responded.

"Look, girl, I wouldn't get involved in this," Karen snapped at Liza. "This is Cynthia we're going to be dealing with. It's going to take all of our combined efforts to bring her down, and I don't want you holding us back."

"No problem, I won't help you then," Liza snickered.

Looking at Liza's mischievous face, Sabrina could tell that she was up to something.

"Um, Karen, I'd rather have her helping us, rather than potentially doing something like, oh, I don't know, pulling a prank on us while we're in the middle of our battle?" Sabrina suggested.

Karen sighed. "Fine, then, you're in, girl, just don't screw things up!" she shouted.

"Oh, don't worry, that's Sabrina's job," Liza replied, with Sabrina placing her face in her palm.

* * *

Giselle was afraid to even look up, but she knew that she had to eventually. So she slowly raised her eyes to take a look at what had intruded upon her room. And she could tell immediately that it was a Pokémon, but what kind? She had never seen this particular Pokémon before.

"Giselle," the Pokémon said to her.

"How – how – who – what are you?" Giselle stammered.

"I am Arceus," the Pokémon responded. "And you, Giselle, are the chosen one."

Now Giselle put two and two together. The Pokémon that Roxanne had sent Joe off looking for on a wild goose chase – that was the very Pokémon that had come to visit her. And she – not Roxanne – was the chosen one? She smirked at that. Maybe she had some bargaining room with this Pokémon after all.

"Well, I guess that means I'm important," Giselle told Arceus, getting up from off the ground.

"Indeed it does," Arceus responded.

"I don't know much about you, but I assume that you know a lot about me," Giselle bragged. "Three-time defending Pokémon League champion, the best Pokémon trainer in the world, and the person who held this league together when Team Rocket threatened to pull it apart."

"I in fact know all of that about you," Arceus responded.

"As I thought, my fame is just that widespread," Giselle stated. "So, may I ask, who are you, and why do you think you can just walk into my apartment like this?"

"I am the legendary Pokémon Arceus-"

"You said that already!"

"-and my purpose in this world is to appear in the great time of need to the chosen one. You are that chosen one."

"Yeah, yeah, you already told me," Giselle said. "Let me ask, why am I the chosen one, and not say, oh, I don't know, Roxanne? Is it my overwhelming physical beauty? Is it my irresistible charm? Is it my unmatched brains? Is it my ability at training Pokémon?"

"It is not any of those things," Arceus replied.

"Then what is it?" Giselle asked, crossing her arms. "Surely it would have to be one of those important things!"

"It is your pure heart," Arceus explained. "For underneath your exterior appearance and abilities, you deep down inside have a heart made of gold."

"Oh, yeah, that too," Giselle said. "Well, it's hard to keep track of everything I'm the best at, but you know, that's just the way it is."

"My purpose is to come here to ask you, the chosen one, for your one wish for the world," Arceus said. "As this is the great time of need, you have the chance at providing hope and peace for the citizens of the Pokémon world by asking for one wish from me, which I will faithfully execute for you."

"You're kidding, right?" Giselle asked. "You're a genie that didn't come in a lamp, and instead of three wishes you're giving me one? Please, sounds too hard for me to believe."

"It is true," Arceus replied.

"You know, you may have asked the wrong person," Giselle stated. "I pretty much already have everything I want… I don't know how my life could get any better! I mean, sure, I'd like to have Joe back here by my side instead off with that Roxanne, but other than that, I can't really think of anything…"

"Please take this seriously, chosen one," Arceus responded. "A wrong decision by you in this case could lead to great problems for the entire Pokémon world, you included."

"But what is there to ask for?" Giselle asked. "You expect me to be able to solve all the problems in this world just by thinking of them and making them disappear?"

"If you think hard enough, there is one problem that is the root of all the trouble currently in the Pokémon world," Arceus stated. "More specifically, one person.

"Roxanne?" Giselle guessed.

"If you do not take this seriously, you will cause great harm to your land," Arceus explained. "I'm just warning you. Please, chosen one, make the right choice."

"Okay, you got it," Giselle said. "My wish is for you to place Roxanne in jail and return Joe to me immediately. Sound pretty fair to you?"

"You only get one wish, and this is what you want to use it on?" Arceus questioned.

"Absolutely," Giselle responded. "Now go on and fulfill my wish, legendary Pokémon!"

Arceus began to take a few steps towards Giselle, who backed away quite nervously. The Pokémon stared at her closely, giving her the chills.

"This is your wish?" Arceus asked again.

The Pokémon moved closer to Giselle with this statement, as she began to look quite afraid.

"Fine, then, as you wish," Arceus stated.

"I was only joking!" Giselle exclaimed. "Go take Cynthia out of power, I know she has caused great harm to a lot of people."

"Why wasn't that what you asked for in the first place?" Arceus asked.

"I was playing mind games with you," Giselle stated. "I was wondering if I could play a practical joke on a legendary Pokémon. And I succeeded! Go ahead, Pokémon, take care of Cynthia for us."

Arceus stared at Giselle for a few seconds, then teleported away. Instantly Giselle's room returned back to normal, with everything in the same place it was before Arceus appeared.

"If I can't have a little fun now and then, being Pokémon League champion would be too boring," Giselle stated.

* * *

Cynthia brought Lucian, her sister Diane and Roy in front of her throne. She gave them a simple smile, as if she was planning something.

"What is it, Queen Cynthia?" Lucian asked nervously.

"You three go off to Celestic Town," Cynthia commanded. "There my grandparents will be waiting for you."

"But why must we go there?" Diane asked.

"Do not question the queen's orders," Cynthia said. "Just teleport away."

"But I want to be with you," Lucian requested.

"You will be, once I have completed my ultimate goal," Cynthia stated. "The next time you see me, I will have acquired all the power I could ever imagine."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Lucian replied.

Then he and Cynthia's sister teleported away with his son to Celestic Town.

* * *

They arrived at Celestic Town to meet Cynthia's grandparents.

"We are happy to see you, Lucian!" Carolina exclaimed.

Lucian looked confused. "Do you have an inkling as to what is up with Queen Cynthia?" he asked them.

"Why, she's completing her ultimate goal," Cynthia's grandfather stated. "She's simply going to obtain the powers of Arceus, and then she will have everything she ever dreamed of."

Lucian sighed. "I wish she wouldn't," he said. "If she does that, she will have the ability to control everyone's wills – in essence, the people of the Pokémon world will be no more than her wind-up dolls."

"Oh, Lucian, that's what you are to her anyway," Diane said. "You know that she has to hold herself back from killing you several times a day. The same goes with me."

"You mean I really don't have a free will?" Lucian asked.

"Lucian, you only think you have one," Diane explained. "You've been under Cynthia's control for years now. She decided to play mind games with you by divorcing you, just because she can. Don't be surprised if she does it again."

"No!" Lucian shouted. "Don't talk that way!"

"Lucian, look at yourself, you've made yourself into Cynthia's personal love object," Diane continued. "She has chosen you as the one she wishes to love. It could have been any boy, and it's you. In several years, when you grow older and she remains the same age, she will choose another boy, and probably kill you. She almost already did that with Cyrus, but Cyrus displeased her."

"How could Cyrus have a free will and not me?" Lucian asked.

"Oh, from what Cynthia told me, he had a piece of the Lustrous Orb on him, which prevented Cynthia from using her full powers on him," Diane said. "I'm shocked that she was able to kill him."

"Okay, then what about everyone else in this world?" Lucian wondered. "Do they have free wills, or not?"

"Only those of us who are closest to Cynthia are under her control," Diane explained. "There are various others who are also completely under her control – for example, that Sabrina girl? She's being controlled, and Cynthia's purposely kept her alive for some reason, a reason I haven't been able to figure out. But once she obtains the power of Arceus, everyone will be completely under her control, and there will be nothing anyone can do about it. In fact, any negative feelings towards Cynthia will disappear. Everyone will think about her in only positive ways – they won't even have the ability to resist her. She won't need to kill anyone anymore, since everyone will want to do whatever she says. But she may still kill people, if she feels like it."

Lucian looked at Cynthia's grandparents. "Is this true?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Carolina replied. "That's why we went to all the trouble to awaken Arceus – so Cynthia could complete this dream of hers."

"But – but –" Lucian stuttered.

"We're under Cynthia's control too, just as you are," Cynthia's grandfather added.

Lucian looked down, not knowing what to say.

"Lucian, you're going to love the new world that Cynthia creates, at least for the few years that you're still alive, before she kills you for no longer being useful to her as her love object," Diane said. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

Lucian sighed. He did not know what he should do, and he realized that there was nothing that he could do. So he just stood there and stared at the ground, completely helpless.

* * *

Cynthia sat on her throne in her castle, completely alone. Suddenly the room began to flash and turn different colors. Loud sounds accompanied the glow that came into the room. The whole time, Cynthia stayed completely calm, with a simple smile on her face.

After about a minute of the flashing colors and loud noises, Arceus appeared before Cynthia's throne. Cynthia gave absolutely no shocked response to the appearance of Arceus – instead she merely looked at the Pokémon as if she expected him. The two stared at each other for about half a minute, before Cynthia finally spoke.

"Welcome, Arceus. Bow down before me."


	43. Sabrina Gets Slaughtered

Chapter 43

Sabrina Gets Slaughtered

Arceus and Cynthia continued to stare at each other, neither budging from their positions – Cynthia on her throne, Arceus standing before her. Cynthia then repeated her request.

"Bow down, Arceus."

"I will not," Arceus replied. "I have come to take you out of power, upon the chosen one's request."

Cynthia smiled evilly. This was exactly what she wanted.

"It makes no difference what reason you're here for," she replied. "I told you to bow down, so obey the queen."

"This can end peacefully, or it can end badly," Arceus stated. "If I use Judgment on you, it will be the most painful experience a human being can possibly go through. You will wish for your own death upon feeling Judgment. I kindly suggest that you relinquish your powers, and abdicate your throne."

Cynthia's grin grew wider.

"I request that you use this attack as soon as possible," Cynthia replied. "I want to see it in action."

Arceus looked closely at Cynthia, trying to figure out what she had up her sleeve.

"No human being would ever want to feel Judgment," Arceus said.

"I know," Cynthia responded.

"So why do you request it?" Arceus asked.

"It's all part of my plan," Cynthia said.

* * *

Outside the castle, Karen, Sabrina, Lance, Lorelei and Liza prepared for their attack on Cynthia.

"This must be a surprise attack," Karen stated.

"But this is Cynthia we're dealing with here!" Sabrina cautioned. "She has to know we're coming!"

"So we surprise her by sending in only one person against her," Karen added. "Once she thinks only one person is attacking her, the rest of us barge in and go after her."

Sabrina sighed. "I still think this has no chance of working," she muttered. "Cynthia's just way too powerful."

"If you don't believe in yourself, you'll never win," Karen said.

"Fine, you want me to help? I'll help," Sabrina said. "I'll go in first, but promise me that you won't get scared and run away. There's no way I can beat her by myself."

"No worries!" Karen exclaimed. "We'll come in exactly two minutes after you arrive."

Sabrina then teleported inside the castle, becoming shocked by what she saw.

* * *

"Welcome, Sabrina," Cynthia stated.

Sabrina looked at Cynthia sitting upon her throne, then over at Arceus.

"Why is there a legendary Pokémon here?" Sabrina asked frantically. "And Arceus, of all Pokémon?"

"I've come to take Cynthia out of power," Arceus stated.

Sabrina smiled. She now had a legendary Pokémon on her side! Finally, the balance of power had shifted in her favor.

"I ask for you to bow down before me, Sabrina, as you always have and as you always will," Cynthia stated.

"Not this time!" Sabrina shouted. "Arceus, take out Cynthia!"

Cynthia smiled, while snapping her fingers. Sabrina braced herself for something to happen to herself, but she felt nothing.

"Your powers won't work on me with Arceus around!" Sabrina exclaimed. "You're in a lot of trouble, Cynthia!"

"One last chance for you to bow down, both of you," Cynthia stated. "Sabrina, I just knocked out cold all of your friends, in case you were wondering."

Sabrina looked a little worried, but she shook her head. "No matter what, I refuse to bow down to you," she said.

"Very well," Cynthia replied. "Arceus, use Judgment!"

Arceus looked at Sabrina for a moment, and Sabrina became shocked. Was Arceus about to obey Cynthia's orders, and use Judgment on her?

"Your reign is over, Cynthia," Arceus stated.

Arceus then reared its head back and stomped the ground. Instantly a plethora of shiny beams of energy came crashing down upon Cynthia, who merely smiled as they hit her.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Sabrina collapsed to the ground and began writhing in pain. Even as the beams of energy hit Cynthia, not one of them hurt her at all. Instead, all of the attack was instantly transferred to Sabrina's body, which now convulsed on the ground helplessly.

"I do not understand," Arceus stated. "How is this possible?"

"So, even the great Arceus cannot understand my power," Cynthia replied with a smirk. "I have the power to transfer any pain to any other human being I wish. For example, I could have brought it down upon my husband Lucian, if I wanted to make him feel a little pain. I considered it, but ultimately I knew that the one who I wanted to endure the ultimate torture was Sabrina."

Sabrina continued to scream as she felt the pain of Judgment. It was an otherworldly pain, one that could not be described in human terms. Every part of her body was in extreme pain, and she lost all control of her limbs. They flailed around helplessly while she rolled around on the ground.

"That's impossible," Arceus said. "No one can escape my Judgment!"

Arceus unleashed his Judgment on Cynthia again, but Cynthia felt no pain. Instead again it all came crashing down upon Sabrina, who screamed louder. She was in so much pain that she was willing to die just to end the pain. However, the Judgment controlled her body's movements, including her own tongue, and she could not speak. All that came out of her mouth were hideous screams.

"Go ahead, continue to attack me," Cynthia said. "I want her to be tortured even more."

"I have come here to take you out of power," Arceus stated. "If that means that another human must suffer in the process, so be it. You will not escape!"

Arceus used Judgment again. Still Cynthia felt nothing. Sabrina screamed even more, as she rolled around in the extreme torture. She had no power to even think straight anymore. The only thing she could possibly think about was the pain. She just wanted it to stop, somehow. If that meant her death, she was fine with it, but she had no way to control this.

"You seem to not understand your place, Arceus," Cynthia said. "The reason you have come here is to take me out of power, but in reality your purpose is to give me the ultimate power. In a short time you will be destroyed, and all of your power will belong to me. This is just a little sideshow before I begin to take your power. I enjoy watching that worthless woman feel such pain."

"I do not understand your thinking," Arceus replied. "There is no way you will get away with this!"

Arceus just used Judgment again on Cynthia, with the beams of energy coming right down upon her head. Yet she continued to feel nothing at all, while Sabrina felt yet even more torture. She began to scream louder and louder, to the point that it was annoying Cynthia.

"Shut up, fool!" Cynthia yelled at Sabrina.

Sabrina just kept on screaming as she convulsed in pain, having no way to stop herself.

"I'll make you stop," Cynthia said.

She teleported off her throne, right next to Sabrina. Then she kicked Sabrina repeatedly right in the face, causing her to bleed. It did nothing to stop Sabrina's screaming, however.

"You're off your throne, and that's where you will remain," Arceus stated.

Arceus then decided to use his Judgment on both Sabrina and Cynthia at the same time. Yet it was only Sabrina who felt any pain, as she continued to cry out in her torture.

"I've had it with you, fool," Cynthia grumbled. She reached out her hands and began to shoot out electricity, right at Sabrina's face. This electricity was the power she stole off Lucian in the hospital.

Sabrina's screams grew louder. As her mouth opened to scream, the electric bolts went inside her mouth and began to light up her head. Her face began to turn red, and steam came out of her face. She finally stopped screaming, only to begin coughing. Then, suddenly her face literally exploded. Blood came flying out, which Cynthia successfully dodged. What was left of Sabrina's face were her lips, a completely scorched nose, and bloodshot eyes. The rest of her skin was either torn off or burnt to a crisp.

"Well, at least you stopped screaming," Cynthia said, as Arceus used its Judgment on both girls again. And again, Cynthia felt no pain, while Sabrina felt it all, beginning to scream again.

Cynthia sighed as Sabrina began her screaming again. "What must I do to make you stop?" she wondered. Sabrina's arms flailed around helplessly, and for some reason this made Cynthia angry, so she shot ice beams at them – the same ice power she stole off Lucian. Instantly Sabrina's hands were completely frozen with ice.

"On second thought, I don't mind it that much," Cynthia said, and she shot electric bolts at Sabrina's frozen hands. Her hands exploded, and blood came flowing out of the Sabrina's arms. Sabrina simply screamed in pain, realizing that she had lost both of her hands.

"You truly are an evil woman," Arceus told Cynthia, who merely smiled in response. "What is your goal in all this?"

"My goal?" Cynthia asked. "What I want is to be able to control the very wills of every human being in the Pokémon world. With your power, I will be able to do that. Then every human will want to live for the sole purpose of making me happy – they will freely bow down before me, just hoping it will please me. They will want to have children for one reason – so there will be more people to bow down before me. It will be a perfect world – since everyone will be living just to please me, no one will be living for any selfish reasons, and thus everyone will get along. And it will be ruled by a queen – me."

"You are the very personification of evil," Arceus stated. "You must be stopped."

"But you can't stop me," Cynthia replied. "Is that your only attack?"

Arceus did not answer.

"I suppose it is," Cynthia stated. "Very well, then, it is time for you to now relinquish your powers to me."

She heard Sabrina continuing to scream, and stared down angrily at her.

"Shut up!" Cynthia screamed. "What are you crying for?"

She then turned to Arceus.

"Anyway, now you will surrender to the queen," she stated.

She reached out her hands, then launched a ball of dark energy along with lightning bolts and ice beams at Arceus. However, the legendary Pokémon dodged the attack by teleporting away.

"Oh, so you think you're smart?" Cynthia said.

She then teleported to the part of the castle in which Arceus had gone, leaving Sabrina to suffer by herself.

"Give me your powers!" she shouted, launching another attack at Arceus.

Arceus shot his Judgment attack right back at Cynthia's attack, which caused sparks to fly. All the energy – dark, electric and ice – ended up reverberating all over the castle, causing the walls to shake.

"I'll bring your palace down," Arceus threatened, continuing to attack Cynthia.

"Go right ahead," Cynthia responded, teleporting away from Arceus, back to her throne room.

Arceus followed suit, and the two launched their attacks at each other. The attacks were so strong that the castle began to fall apart. Walls began collapsing. One wall came down right on Sabrina's legs, shattering her bones instantly. The very roof of the castle began to cave in, while both attackers skillfully dodged the collapsing parts of the building. They continued shooting their powers at each other, but neither was able to connect with the other.

"There's no way to defeat me," Cynthia stated. "You've already seen – any time you attack me, it's that worthless fool who feels the pain. I am invincible!"

"You're just a human – you're not invincible," Arceus replied.

"Actually, I'm just as much Pokémon as you are," Cynthia said with a smile.

Cynthia snapped her fingers, causing Sabrina to freeze in place.

"You can stop time… you have the powers of Dialga!" Arceus exclaimed.

"Yes, I do," Cynthia said, snapping her fingers again, which sent Sabrina back into convulsions.

"Even so, Dialga's powers are no match for mine," Arceus stated.

"Is that so?" Cynthia asked. "Then how come it seems to be that I am beating you?"

"This match has barely begun!" Arceus replied. "Ultimately you will lose to my powers!"

The two continued attacking each other full force, but neither could inflict any pain on the other. This went on while the castle began to completely fall apart. Lucian's library was crushed as the ceiling above it caved in. Cynthia's room fell to pieces in seconds. Soon the only thing left standing in the castle was Cynthia's golden throne, only feet away from the battling woman and Pokémon. And all the time, Sabrina lay there, writhing in extreme pain.

"Very soon, you will die, and the Pokémon world will bow down before me," Cynthia stated.

"Not at all," Arceus replied. "No matter what, I will make sure that you are taken out of power."

"At what expense?" Cynthia asked. "Would you destroy the world if that was necessary?"

"I have come to take you out of power, and that may mean others will die," Arceus responded. "But I will not allow the chosen one to die."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Cynthia replied. "I wouldn't let you kill anyone who I don't want to die – I need as many people to bow down before me as possible."

Cynthia and Arceus continued attacking each other, with the castle lying in ruins around them. Karen and the others woke up from their unconsciousness to see the battle going on before them.

"It's Cynthia against that Arceus!" Karen exclaimed.

"And Sabrina – she's in pain!" Liza shouted.

"Quick, we've got to get out of here!" Lance yelled.

"No way!" Lorelei shouted. "We can't let Sabrina die!"

"I'll rescue Sabrina, the rest of you figure out a way to defeat Cynthia!" Liza yelled.

Liza quickly teleported over to Sabrina. Cynthia and Arceus seemed to ignore her while they battled each other. She was shocked when she saw the state of her friend.

"Sabrina, are you all right?" Liza asked.

Sabrina just gasped for air while coughing.

"Take my hand," Liza said.

She reached out to Sabrina, before noticing that Sabrina had lost both of her hands. This caused her to shriek.

"Come on, let's go," she said, grabbing one of Sabrina's arms, then using all of her teleportation powers. She then teleported away with Sabrina, leaving Cynthia and Arceus battling each other.

"Your prey got away," Arceus told Cynthia.

"Don't worry, I'll kill her later," Cynthia replied. "Or maybe torture her some more, it'll be my choice."

The two continued to attack each other, while Karen, Lorelei and Lance tried to figure out what to do in the situation. They then realized the only thing that made sense was to just stay back and avoid getting hit by any attacks, and hope for Arceus to defeat Cynthia. Because if Arceus could not defeat Cynthia, no one could.


	44. Defying Gravity

Chapter 44

Defying Gravity

Cynthia and Arceus continued to battle each other in the wreckage of Cynthia's palace. Neither could even injure each other or connect with a hit on the other one, yet both were launching full effort in their attacks against each other.

"Give it up, Cynthia," Arceus said. "Ultimately there is no human who can compete with me. I will defeat you eventually."

"You don't know my power," Cynthia replied. "Soon your only claim to existence will be the fact that you will be part of me, just as Dialga is."

"I cannot understand a human like you, Cynthia," Arceus stated.

"You shall never understand me," Cynthia replied. "But it is not necessary, for you shall simply give me your powers and then disappear. Why don't you just give up, instead of me?"

"I cannot allow evil to triumph," Arceus stated.

"Evil? What is evil?" Cynthia asked. "Good and evil, that's all relative. Once I triumph and become the queen of the Pokémon world, I shall decide what is good and evil, right and wrong. Evil will be anything that is against my will, good will be anything that is in my favor. But with your power I will eradicate such evil from the world, and all shall live to serve me."

"Whether you consider yourself evil or not, you must consider yourself vain," Arceus responded.

"Again, it's all in your opinion," Cynthia said. "I deserve everything I get. Those who bow down before me – they do so because I deserve to have people bow down to me. After all, I am the queen!"

"But what are you, really?" Arceus asked. "You are a human, just like all the other humans. Why must other humans bow down to you?"

"You are wrong!" Cynthia snapped, as she pushed her attacks harder towards Arceus. "I am the only human who matters; my existence is the only one that means anything. Soon every other human will live for the sole purpose of making me happy, and the world will exist just for one human's will – mine."

Arceus continued attacking Cynthia, but it just seemed to be no good. The legendary Pokémon was a bit confused. How was Cynthia so powerful if her powers only were of Dialga's? Wasn't Dialga inferior to Arceus? Even a legendary Pokémon could become confused, and Arceus was feeling that at this time. Still, he pressed on attacking, even if it did not hurt Cynthia.

"I already have eternal youth," Cynthia stated. "No one can kill me."

"I can," Arceus replied.

"I thought that's what you were trying to do right now," Cynthia said. "It doesn't look like you can. And if you can't, certainly no mere human can."

"You are correct in that no human can kill you, but I will defeat you and eliminate your powers," Arceus said.

"But you wouldn't kill me? I'm touched," Cynthia replied.

"It is not my place to kill any human," Arceus stated. "My purpose is to take you out of power, not to kill you."

Cynthia began to levitate high into the sky, and Arceus followed her. Soon the two were launching their attacks at each other in the clouds, putting on a show people could watch from miles away.

"So, I assume this means that Sabrina cannot die from the injuries you caused to her," Cynthia said. "What a shame, although I want to be the one who delivers the finishing blow to her."

"You again are incorrect," Arceus said. "While it is not my place to kill humans, I still can kill them by mistake. If it is necessary to kill you, I will do so."

Cynthia laughed. "Good, it's nice to know that you've killed Sabrina anyway," she stated. "There were many ways I would have liked to kill her, I only regret I could not have seen her death before my own eyes."

"What is your fascination with this Sabrina?" Arceus asked. "I don't understand – how can you be so obsessed with the downfall of one human being?"

"She killed my parents," Cynthia stated.

"And how does that make her any worse than you – killer of over one thousand human beings?" Arceus questioned.

"Cause and effect," Cynthia said. "My goal was never to kill anyone, but it was Sabrina's fault that others have had to die for my cause. Had Sabrina never killed my parents, I would have never killed anyone else. But she sent me down this path. In essence, it is her fault for anything I do that others may consider wrong. All the guilt belongs on her shoulders. All the blood is on her head. She, not me, is ultimately at fault."

Arceus grunted, while trying to attack Cynthia harder. "You just want to put the blame on someone else!" he shouted.

"One cannot change the past," Cynthia stated. "Sabrina committed her crimes, she is a murderer. The blood of my parents is a permanent stain that lives on her and any of her descendants forever. That daughter of hers – she bears the guilt for my parents' deaths as well. As will any children that she has. The only way for the guilt to be destroyed is to remove every Saffron from this planet. That will be the first thing I do once I defeat you."

"One murderer does not necessitate another," Arceus said. "Why could you not have been the better woman?"

"I _am_ the better woman, do not speak to me like that, Pokémon," Cynthia snapped. "I have spared her family countless times. I have had the opportunity to kill her husband, kill her parents – but I have chosen to allow them to live. And in fact even once I defeat you I will allow them to live. They are not at fault for my parents' death, only Sabrina and any of her descendants are."

"Your idea of revenge is bizarre," Arceus stated. "You have taken revenge on hundreds of innocent people, yet spared the family of the one you hate so badly. I can never understand a human being like you."

"It is not necessary to understand me, as I said before," Cynthia said. "Now give in to the power of your queen!"

* * *

Karen, Lorelei and Lance looked up into the sky, watching the two battle. They could tell that neither was making any progress.

"What can we do?" Lorelei asked.

"Look, I don't know how to fight something of that magnitude," Karen replied. "Just let them go. If Arceus wins, everything will be fine."

"And if Cynthia wins?" Lance asked.

"Then we bow down before her majesty," Karen replied.

* * *

Cynthia and Arceus battled each other for hours, neither being able to make any progress in the fight against the other. This was where Arceus began to have an advantage.

"You are a mere human," Arceus stated. "You must sleep at some point."

"And you don't sleep?" Cynthia asked.

"I have slept long enough," Arceus replied. "I am wide awake at this point."

"Then perhaps I just need to let you know that… I've got this battle won!" Cynthia shouted.

Arceus suddenly noticed that his attacks were beginning to come back at him. It had happened in a very subtle matter, but over time, Cynthia had managed to begin absorbing Arceus's attacks and shoot them back at him.

"Yes, it's true," Cynthia stated. "I am well on my way toward victory. It's over, Pokémon."

As the next couple of hours went by, Cynthia slowly but surely began to acquire Arceus's powers. Arceus figured he could do nothing but continue to attack her, knowing that if he let up at any moment, he would be destroyed. But suddenly he just stopped attacking Cynthia in a stunning moment.

"Go ahead, Cynthia, kill me," Arceus said. "This is your big chance. Just destroy me now. You won't get all my powers, and you surely won't be able to control everyone's will like you hope, but you will have at least defeated me."

"And what do I have to gain by doing that?" Cynthia asked.

"You'll have defeated your greatest foe yet," Arceus said. "Surely that is of some achievement to you."

"Absolutely not!" Cynthia yelled. "I want all your power! Bring it on, Pokémon, I will take every bit of power you have, so that I may rule over the Pokémon world!"

She began using all her dark powers to suck Arceus's powers from him. This left her immobile and unable to do anything else, but since Arceus was not attacking her, it was of no concern to her.

"I'm going to take it all from you, and you will be part of me!" Cynthia laughed. "Not even Arceus can defeat me!"

She laughed hysterically as she took Arceus's powers off him, slowly but surely.

"It's over!" she screamed.

But suddenly, a man appeared in mid-air, with a Pokémon next to him.

"Cyrus?" Cynthia asked.

"Giratina?" Arceus asked.

"I thought I killed you," Cynthia stated.

"Quite the contrary," Cyrus responded. "You sent me into the Distortion World. There Giratina found me and asked me why I had been sent there. I told him that I was there because of someone who had defied Arceus and wanted to destroy him. Giratina then agreed to allow me to escape the Distortion World as long as I would help him defend Arceus."

Cynthia's smile disappeared, realizing that she would now have to fight two legendary Pokémon.

"Fine, then, if you want to battle me, go ahead!" she yelled, smiling again. "I'll beat both of you!"

She began using all her dark powers on both Arceus and Giratina, but the two Pokémon fought back with all their might. Cyrus also added his dark powers to the Pokémon's cause, and their power soon overwhelmed Cynthia.

"You won't defeat me!" Cynthia cried out in desperation. "I will win!"

But it was too late for Cynthia. She and the Pokémon floated down towards the ground, with her surrounded in a ball of dark energy, her own power used against her. The ball of dark energy came crashing down upon her golden throne, shattering it into a million pieces of gold.

"Sorry, Cynthia, but this is necessary," Cyrus stated, with Karen, Lorelei and Lance looking on.

Arceus then used all of its power to suck the powers out of Cynthia. She lost every bit of power that she had gained from Arceus, as well as almost all the powers that she had gained from Dialga. The only thing that remained was her eternal youth – as neither Arceus nor Giratina had the power to change time. Cynthia fell unconscious as her powers were removed.

"My work here is done," Giratina said. "I have helped Arceus win." He then disappeared, going back into the Distortion World.

Cyrus then looked over at Arceus, among the wreckage of Cynthia's palace.

"Are you going to kill her?" he asked.

"No," Arceus said. "The chosen one told me to take Cynthia out of power, but it was never specified that I kill her. My job is not to shed the blood of human beings."

"But if you don't kill her, she'll just go back to what she used to do!" Cyrus protested.

"She is nearly powerless," Arceus stated. "She still has a bit of psychic power, a bit of dark power, and the ability to remain youthful, but that is all. She has no more power than any other psychic or dark-powered individual. You humans now must choose what to do with her. It will be your choice whether she lives or dies."

"But…" Cyrus protested.

"My work here is finished," Arceus said. He then disappeared as well.

Cyrus sighed, while Karen, Lorelei and Lance began to celebrate.

"The queen is dead! The queen is dead!" Karen shouted.

"No, she lives on," Cyrus stated, walking over to Cynthia, who remained wrapped up in a giant ball of dark energy.

"She will die," Karen replied. "There's enough evidence to execute her 100 times over."

Cyrus sucked the dark energy right into his hands, while leaving just a little bit of dark mist surrounding Cynthia, so she could not escape.

"She shall be brought to court, and there she will be given a trial," Cyrus stated. "And any jury will easily convict her and have her executed. Finally, the reign of Cynthia is over. The Pokémon world can live in peace."

Cyrus then picked up Cynthia and carried her away, joined by Karen, Lorelei and Lance. They were off to take her to court, for her inevitable sentencing. And as they did, they rejoiced, knowing that peace and order had been restored to the Pokémon world.


	45. Rehab

Chapter 45

Rehab

Will walked down the halls of the Saffron hospital, trying to find Sabrina's room. He was headed toward room 333, where she was staying, after several major operations.

In typical Will fashion, however, he was completely clueless to what these operations were, or even if Sabrina had survived her major injuries.

_Being a psychic is not all it's cracked up to be,_ Will muttered to himself. _Especially when I can't even sense Sabrina's presence._

For a moment, Will thought that the fact that he could not sense her presence might mean she was dead, but he quickly shrugged off that thought.

_I hope she's all right,_ he thought.

He continued to walk down the hall, passing several people in wheelchairs. He made sure not to even come close to touching them.

_These poor people are hurt badly, but they also must be a pain in the butt to take care of,_ Will thought. _I'm sure glad I don't have to put up with that._

He then accidentally bumped into one person's wheelchair. He quickly looked down at the person and apologized.

"I'm sorry… um… what are you?" Will asked.

He saw that the person was wearing a mask that was nearly identical to his, except that it covered the person's whole face. The person just glared at him through the eyeholes of the mask.

"Boy, I didn't know my masks became in fashion," Will commented. "Nice to see someone else besides me wearing one. By the way, do you know where Sabrina Saffron is staying?"

The person lifted a hand and made a gesture as if to say "I don't know."

"Okay, thanks anyway," Will said.

He took a closer look at the person, who he had merely glanced over before. He now noticed the green hair cascading down the person's back.

"Your hair is identical to Sabrina's," Will stated. "That's a coincidence."

He then looked even closer at the person, noticing that the person's hands were made out of metal.

"Are you a robot?" Will asked. "No humans have hands like those."

The person snapped the fingers of that same hand, making a metallic clank. Instantly, Will was turned into a tiny doll version of himself. The person then snatched the doll version of Will into that same hand, and, without using any physical effort, pushed herself in the wheelchair down the hall.

* * *

Cynthia was locked in a jail cell in Celadon City, the same exact cell she had occupied for nearly a year before. She was surrounded by dark mist, and in her weakened state, she had no power to escape in any way. She was surprised to see Lucian led into her jail cell by several security guards.

"What are you doing here, boy?" Cynthia asked angrily.

Lucian did not respond to her, but turned to the security guards and whispered something to them. They then left him, locking the cell behind them, but staying right outside the cell.

"Boy, you are useless to me now," Cynthia muttered. "Just go away. Everything's ruined, it's all over. I'm going to be put on trial and then executed. I've lost everything – almost all my powers, and certainly all of my pride."

"I had a vision of you ruling over a kingdom as queen," Lucian told her. "And it's all going to come true, thanks to this."

He pulled out a Pokédex.

"You are nuts, boy," Cynthia replied. "Just let me die in peace. You were never much of a psychic, and I don't believe you now."

Lucian pointed the Pokédex at Cynthia and pushed a button on it.

"Dialga, the temporal Pokémon," the Pokédex spoke. "A legendary Pokémon in Sinnoh. It is said that time flows when Dialga's heart beats."

"So what, boy?" Cynthia asked. "Yes, I still have Dialga's powers of time flowing through me. If they were to give me life in prison, I'd live forever as a 25-year-old woman – but still in this horrible cell."

"I'm your lawyer," Lucian replied. "And this is all the evidence I need to free you."

"Go away, boy!" Cynthia yelled. "Stop trying to give me false hope."

Lucian leaned in and kissed her on the lips, then walked toward the exit of the cell. The security guards opened it and allowed him out. They then led him out of the prison.

_They drugged Cynthia to make her suicidal and depressed,_ Lucian thought. _That's only a shadow of the Cynthia I know – the only thing that makes her Cynthia is the fact that she calls me "boy."_

He smiled when thinking about that.

_I guess I do like her calling me that,_ he thought.

* * *

Will woke up in his normal form, sitting on a chair next to the same person who had turned him into a doll. He looked at the person and began to cry.

"No," he said. "No. You're not Sabrina. You can't be."

"If you don't love me for who I am, you're free to have Karen," the person replied.

"What happened, Sabrina?" Will asked. "Please, tell me."

"Your precious Karen nearly killed me, that's what," Sabrina responded. "This is the new me, just as Karen wanted it."

"What's all this talk about Karen?" Will wondered. "I'm so confused."

"Karen had ulterior motives about trying to defeat Cynthia," Sabrina answered. "She had a Plan B – that was to sacrifice me in case she couldn't defeat Cynthia – so she could have you."

"How do you know these things?" Will asked. "I know you're a psychic, but she's dark – she can hide this all from you."

"Perhaps my psychic powers have increased now that I've lost any trace of my dark powers," Sabrina responded.

"You – you – lost your dark powers?" Will questioned.

"Dark powers come out of a person's hands, Will," Sabrina said. "I no longer have my original hands."

She held up her metallic hands. They were silver in color, with all the hinges and joints of normal human hands. They could move exactly like Sabrina's original hands, but there was something missing.

"You lost your hands?" Will asked.

"Thanks for noticing," Sabrina replied. "Fortunately I'm a psychic, so the doctors created metallic hands that I can control using my mind. I can't physically feel anything through them… so in essence I have lost one of my senses."

"How did this all happen?" Will questioned. "Explain it all to me."

Sabrina went through the story of her torture at the hands of Cynthia, indirectly caused by Arceus. By the end of the story, Will was in tears.

"Why didn't you let me go with you?" he demanded. "I would have sacrificed myself to save you even a bit of pain. I promise you, Sabrina, I would have."

"Would you have?" Sabrina asked. "Or would you have gone off to be with your children?"

"What?" Will asked. "I have one child – Roxette – and I was taking care of her while you were gone. I don't understand what you are talking about."

"Ray and Rachel – your 5-year-old twins," Sabrina said. "They must wonder what it's like to have a real father – too bad they now know a different man as their father."

"Sabrina, you must have lost your mind!" Will screamed. "You lost a lot more than your hands – you lost your sanity! You're now just making up things at your own whim! Now I don't know what to believe of what you told me."

"You're right that I lost more than my hands," Sabrina replied.

She pointed at her legs.

"What about your legs?" Will asked.

"An entire wall came down upon them and completely shattered my bones," Sabrina responded. "The bones were so destroyed that they can never heal. I don't have the strength to even stand up on them anymore – I'll never walk again."

Will was nearly about to cry again, but then he became angry again.

"Tell me – what is this crap about me having two kids?" Will yelled. "I promised you – I was a virgin until I met you!"

"You did promise me," Sabrina said. "And you lied! You're nothing but a liar, Will! You told me you never did anything with Karen – but you did! And not only did you lay with her – you got her pregnant! And even worse, you left her, never to care about your own children again! You are the most despicable human being I've ever met!"

Will stared at Sabrina in total shock, not believing a word she said. He then stood up and began to walk away.

"Go," Sabrina said. "Go back to Karen – and start raising your children for once in your life."

"One last thing before I go," Will said. "Besides the fact that I don't believe a word you're saying, I want to know about why you're wearing a mask like mine."

"I told you my face exploded, thanks to Cynthia," Sabrina responded. "I don't have a face anymore. The doctors chose to place a mask in the place where my face used to be, so I wouldn't look like a zombie. One of them had the humor to make it look like yours – he thought it would be romantic for us to look similar. Little did he know what kind of man you are."

"I'm going to find out the truth," Will said. "And when I find out that you're the one making up lies, I'm going to have you placed in a mental hospital."

"Either way, our marriage is over," Sabrina replied coldly.

"And what a shame that is," Will stated, as he walked away.

* * *

Lucian met with Diane and Cynthia's grandparents in the hotel room in which they were staying in Celadon City. Diane was taking care of Roy, while Cynthia's grandparents looked very nervous. Lucian, however, remained completely calm.

"What is with you?" Diane asked. "Cynthia's going to die, and you couldn't care less."

"Quite the contrary," Lucian replied. "I have killer evidence that will set Cynthia scot-free."

"And what is that?" Diane questioned.

"This same judge let Sabrina off on the fact that she was controlled by Mewtwo, even though she killed your parents," Lucian stated.

"So what?" Diane asked. "One incorrect decision by the judge doesn't mean he's going to make another one."

"Don't you understand?" Lucian questioned. "I have evidence through this Pokédex that Cynthia is part-Pokémon – she has Dialga's powers in her. Then I simply go off the argument that she was controlled by Dialga when she committed every crime of hers."

"Seems pretty flimsy," Diane stated. "No way they buy that."

"Want to make a bet?" Lucian asked.

"Oh, come on, Lucian, there's nothing you could possibly bet me," Diane said. "What do you have to lose?"

A big smile appeared on Lucian's face.

"If Cynthia is sentenced to more than a year in prison, or executed, then I'll be your personal servant for as long as I live," Lucian stated. "But if she gets off, then you will be the personal servant of Cynthia and me for as long as you live."

"Let's get that in writing," Diane replied. "I'll love having you as a servant – though it won't make up for the loss of my sister."

* * *

Will teleported to Karen's home in Blackthorn City, in a rage of fury. He was met by two children at the door, who both looked around the age of 5. This set off warning bells for him, but nevertheless, he walked into the house, finding Bruno. He demanded to see Karen.

"Karen, he's here," Bruno stated.

Karen came out wearing a lovely black gown. She saw Will and pointed toward the ground.

"What do you mean by that?" Will asked.

"Bow down, boy," Karen stated. "It's your queen Karen."

Will thought about fighting her, but he realized he was hopeless against a woman with dark powers, so in embarrassment, he dropped his knees and bowed his head before Karen.

"Okay, boy," Karen said. "You have a couple of choices to make. First, you may choose what is by far the best choice for yourself – promise your love to me over that robot formerly known as Sabrina."

"Never!" Will screamed. "I'll die before I do that!"

"And you just may," Karen said with a laugh. "But actually I think I'll spare you, since I don't need any blood on my hands. After all, I'm the heroine of the Pokémon world right now."

"What are you talking about?" Will said, lifting his head.

"Keep your head bowed, boy," Karen stated. "I was able to fabricate a story that I was the one who defeated Cynthia in battle."

"But Sabrina told me that Cynthia was defeated by a couple of legendary Pokémon, with the help of Cyrus," Will protested.

"Yes, that's what happened – that machine apparently still has the psychic prowess to figure that out," Karen said. "But Cyrus flew the scene, since he is of course a former criminal. And there was no proof of any legendary Pokémon to anyone but Lorelei and Lance. They were dumb enough to go home without saying anything, but I made sure to take all of the credit for Cynthia's defeat. So now everyone loves me. So much, that I may even become queen."

Will sighed heavily. "Just tell me – who are these children?" he asked.

"Get out your checkbook, boy," Karen replied.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"If you want to know about them, you're going to have to pay me an exorbitant amount of money," Karen explained. "Either that, or choose me as your new wife."

Will reluctantly took out his checkbook. "How much do you want?" he asked.

"100 million yen," she replied.

Will sighed. In order to have any chance of saving his marriage with Sabrina, it was going to cost him dearly. But he wrote out the check to Karen, handing it to her in shame.

"Very well, then, boy," Karen said. "Those children are yours and mine."

"I figured that much out," Will replied. "But I want to know how – because I have no recollection of ever laying with you."

"That's because I used my dark powers to completely hypnotize you the night I forced you into lying with me," Karen stated. "You had absolutely no choice in the situation. And you have no memory of that ever happening. Then I hid your children from you, until an opportune time, when I thought I could ruin your marriage. And that time is now."

Will just knelt there, crying hysterically. He could not believe any of it.

"And how did Sabrina know about the children, but not how you had them?" Will asked.

"I've hidden this information with my dark powers all this time, but I chose to reveal some information to Sabrina, although not all," Karen said. "Good luck getting her to believe you. Now get out of my house, boy."

Will got up and began to walk out. He then turned back to Karen.

"I have one request, Karen," Will said. "May I kiss my children?"

"No!" Karen shouted. "Get out!"

The children stared at Will in confusion as he walked out of the house. He looked at them with loving, longing eyes, feeling helpless.

* * *

Will immediately returned to Sabrina's hospital room. He then explained everything to her, in tears.

"I paid her our life savings to find this out," Will said. "My relationship with you means everything to me."

Sabrina just stared at Will, not saying a word.

"I promise you, I'll never take off this mask," he told her. "You have to wear yours forever, so will I. Now just believe me!"

"On one condition," Sabrina said.

"What's that?" Will stated.

"You become a father to those children," Sabrina said. "I don't care if it means you spending time with Karen, they're your children, and you need to help her raise them."

"So you believe me?" Will asked.

Sabrina sighed. "Yes, I guess," she said.

Will leaned over the wheelchair-bound psychic and kissed her on the lips (as there were holes in the mask for her lips, her nostrils and her eyes).

* * *

The next day, Sabrina and Will were in attendance along with hundreds of others at Cynthia's trial. Cynthia sat in a chair surrounded by dark mist, provided by Umbreons of the police force. The drugs that made her so depressed had worn off, but she still felt as if there was no way she'd be freed.

That was when Lucian walked up and down the courtroom, explaining to the judge and jury why Cynthia was not at fault for any of her crimes – she had been controlled by Dialga the whole time. And for proof, he used the Pokédex.

"Is this a valid Pokédex?" the judge asked Professor Oak.

"Why, yes, it is," Professor Oak stated.

The judge and jury went into deliberation. After several hours, they came back with the results.

"We find Cynthia Celestic… _guilty_."

Lucian's head dropped. He could not believe it.

"But Sabrina did the same thing – and she got off!" Lucian protested.

"Quiet, boy," the judge stated. "Cynthia Celestic is sentenced to a lifetime exile from the lands of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. She is to be sent to the land of Orre. She must immediately leave and never return – on punishment of death."

Everyone in the courtroom gasped. Cynthia had indeed gotten away with murder. She smiled upon hearing this verdict.

"This court is adjourned," the judge stated.

Lucian rushed over to Cynthia, and she kissed him on the lips. Diane looked on with mixed emotions – she was happy to see her sister set free, but upset to have lost her bet to Lucian. And Sabrina was beside herself with anger.

"I object!" Sabrina screamed.

"Too late," the judge said. "The jury has made its decision."

"What are you arguing about, Sabrina?" Lucian taunted her. "You were let off for the very same reason."

Sabrina had nothing to say. She just sat there in a state of shock.

Meanwhile, Cynthia was led out of the courtroom by the police. As she passed by Sabrina, she spit in Sabrina's face. The saliva ran down Sabrina's mask as she sat there with nothing to say.

* * *

That night, on a plane to the land of Orre, Lucian explained to Cynthia about Diane's promise. Cynthia just gave a sweet smile to her sister, which made Diane feel sick to her stomach. She knew Cynthia had every intention of making her keep that promise.

"By the way, now that Cyrus is gone, someone else is going to have to be your next child's father," Lucian stated.

"It will be you, of course, Lucian," Cynthia replied, with Lucian beaming upon Cynthia's use of his name.

"What will you name the child?" Lucian asked. "I know it's a boy."

"Henry," Cynthia stated. "He will be royal, just like Roy."

She then kissed Lucian most passionately. She, Cynthia Celestic, had gotten away with murder.


	46. Epilogue

Chapter 46

Epilogue

The new year came around, and it was time for the 2010 Pokémon League Tournament. Giselle was so excited to have the opportunity to win a fourth straight title, Liza was hoping to get revenge on Giselle for her loss in the championship match the prior year, and Sabrina was just happy to even have the chance to battle Pokémon again.

Right before the tournament began, Joe met Giselle alone in her room, knelt down before her and confessed to her that he had kissed Roxanne. She instantly slapped him across the face. Only moments later, with his face still stinging, he pulled out a ring and proposed marriage to her – which she gracefully accepted with a loving and passionate kiss. Her smile said it all – she had completely forgiven him.

The tournament then commenced, with Giselle, Liza, Jasmine and Silver being ranked as the #1 seeds in their respective brackets. The first round of the tournament brought no surprises, with nearly every higher-ranked trainer winning his or her battle. Most of them needed only a single Pokémon to claim victory in the best-of-three battles. As she won her first battle, Sabrina gave Will a long kiss in victory – not realizing the significance of the kiss.

It was the second round where the tournament became spicy. Glacia and Lorelei faced each other in an ice-cold battle which Lorelei barely escaped with victory with her Lapras. Steven and Flannery, who were engaged to be married, also battled with each other, with the fiery girl winning thanks to her Torkoal. Clair and Karen – who worked together for the reformed Team Rocket – battled as well, with Karen barely escaping with victory with her Umbreon. And twins Liza and Tate went up against each other, with Liza wiping out Tate with the sole use of her Solrock.

But the most exciting and violent battle of the second round was the one between Sabrina and Bugsy. The Azalea Town gym leader baffled and confused Sabrina with his Bug-types, which had the advantage over her Psychic-types. However, Sabrina saved her Alakazam for last, up against Bugsy's newly-caught Armaldo. Alakazam seemed to have the battle won, and right before fainting, Armaldo used AncientPower. The move went berserk and rocks began flying all over the place. One of them ended up hitting Sabrina right in her mask and cracking it to pieces.

Immediately Will rushed over to Sabrina, along with medics. She was knocked out cold, and in the process, Alakazam fainted, being connected with her psychically. That handed the battle to Bugsy, but more importantly, Sabrina had to be rushed to the hospital.

Her face already destroyed by Cynthia's vicious attacks, there was no skin left underneath the cracked mask. Doctors quickly constructed a crude mask to replace Sabrina's mask, but even as they fit it on her, blood came streaming down the left side of her face and permanently stained the upper corner of the mask.

In addition, when the mask was destroyed, it also completely wrecked Sabrina's mouth, taking out her lips and shattering her teeth. The doctors had to construct artificial teeth for Sabrina as part of her mask. This would allow Sabrina to still be able to talk and eat, but without her lips, she no longer had the ability to kiss. The mask had to be constructed in such a way that Sabrina's eyes were barely visible to outsiders.

Even Will had to admit that Sabrina looked flat-out ugly in her new state, but he hid that opinion deep down inside, so Sabrina could not know. Instead, he showed her all the affection he could, which would result in two new additions to the Saffron family.

Meanwhile, the tournament continued, with Joe and Roxanne battling it out. Roxanne seemed distraught, having failed to meet or even see Arceus, and Karen's lies to everyone that she had defeated Cynthia were so widespread that even Roxanne did not know of Arceus's existence. But she defeated Joe in her battle in a close one. After the battle, she showed no affection towards Joe, as she had found a new boyfriend – or rather an old one, as she was back with Brawly again.

Big wins in the third round included Karen knocking out defending finalist Liza and Flannery beating Elite Four member Lorelei. None compared to the utter shocker that was Fantina defeating Jasmine. She joined her good friend Candice in winning in this round.

The final eight trainers in the tournament were Giselle, Roxanne, Silver, Candice, Karen, Flannery, Fantina and Erika. And just as Giselle wanted it, she got the chance to battle Roxanne in the quarterfinals, beating her rival soundly, not even allowing Roxanne to knock out a single one of her Pokémon.

There was no surprise when Karen got by Flannery in her battle. Karen was a former Elite Four member, after all, who had only left the Elite Four after she had turned on them. And now that she was a heroine in the Pokémon world for supposedly defeating Cynthia, she was wildly cheered on by the 100,000 fans who packed Indigo Stadium.

Silver went to battle up against Candice, figuring he had an easy win. He was wrong. The icy trainer found a way to defeat him, and she found her way into the semifinal round. Candice celebrated with Volkner, with Volkner kissing her even while staring right at the scars on her face, those left by an attack by Cynthia.

Candice then turned her attention to her friend Fantina, who called out her commands to her Pokémon in French. Her Drifblim survived in the end of the battle to defeat Erika – who Fantina addressed as "Dame Erika."

So after all the discrimination Sinnoh's trainers had faced over the years, the faraway land placed two of its trainers in the semifinals – as opposed to only one from host Kanto, as well as one from Johto.

But that one from Kanto was a particularly determined girl named Giselle, who was blossoming into a woman, and not just in her chest area. Giselle wiped out all of Candice's Pokémon with the mere use of her Starmie. Candice cried after the defeat, although she was comforted by Volkner.

Fantina then took her ghost-types up against Karen, but it was no use. Karen found a way to get past Fantina and advance to the championship match against Giselle.

So it was a dark championship – two females with dark powers, both of whom had helped in defeating Cynthia the prior year, before her escape. The fans desperately wanted to see a new champion, Giselle having ruled this tournament the last three years. Karen tried playing to the crowd, waving her arms in an attempt to excite the fans.

In the end, however, the result was the same: a Giselle victory, without losing a single Pokémon, beating all of Karen's Pokémon with only her Cubone. Karen walked away from the battlefield without even congratulating her opponent, feeling that such conduct was too sissified for her.

At the victory ceremony, Giselle was awarded her gold medal and her fourth championship trophy, while Karen angrily took her silver medal. But the spectacular scene was the two females from Sinnoh, Candice and Fantina, standing together on the third place podium, raising their hands together, being awarded their bronze medals. To them, receiving the bronze medals in representation of Sinnoh was just as good as winning the championship.

After the tournament was over, the trainers all returned to their respective homes, no longer having the shadow of Cynthia's reign hanging over them. Karen and Bruno were married, reluctantly allowing Will to see his children every other day. They lived in Blackthorn City near Clair, where Karen thought up new schemes every day on how to promote herself and cause herself to become more glorified among the people of Johto.

At Indigo Plateau, Giselle and Joe were married at the tender age of 21, and then they had their first child, a daughter by the name of Synneva. Synneva grew up to be a beautiful brunette who quickly became the most popular girl at Pokémon Tech, where she scored higher than both of her parents on her exams and became an even more powerful trainer than Giselle, if that was even possible. Giselle grew a little jealous of her own daughter, as Synneva regularly defeated her in battles. When Agatha retired from the Elite Four, Synneva joined the Elite Four at the age of 10, the youngest member of the Elite Four ever. And, after Giselle had won an all-time record 14 consecutive Pokémon League titles, Synneva won her championship the first year she ever competed in it, not even losing a single Pokémon in the process. Giselle angrily took her silver medal that year and cried while her daughter lectured her on how to become a better trainer. Yes, Synneva was even more stuck-up than Giselle ever was, always wearing elaborate dresses and acting like a princess.

Giselle's rival Roxanne went back to Rustboro City in Hoenn and got married to Brawly. Roxanne had become so distraught about not getting to meet Arceus that she took desperate measures. She hired people to convert her gym into a temple, in which they built a golden statue of Arceus. She and Brawly then permanently wore robes instead of normal clothing, as they were the priestess and priest of the First Temple of Arceus. The two of them prayed daily to Arceus and to its statue. In a vain hope of getting Arceus to return to them, she and Brawly would each capture wild Pokémon every day, then bring them to the temple and sacrifice them to Arceus. They continued this faithfully for years, even as Arceus did not appear before them. Their son and daughter were taught in their ways, also wearing robes, like their parents. Those outside the temple thought of Roxanne and Brawly as absolute nuts, but her standing in the city allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

Sabrina, meanwhile, lived with Will in Saffron City, where over time Will was promoted to president of Silph Company, and he made up for all the money that Karen had extorted off him. In addition, he and Sabrina had twins, a boy and a girl, named Ranj and Rani. These were exotic names that Sabrina came up with, and Will just went along with them. Ranj had the meaning of being pleased, and Rani had the meaning of queen. They, along with Roxette, had to learn the stories behind their mother's mask, hands, and inability to walk.

Erika, who married the photographer Todd, moved into Sabrina's mansion along with her husband. The reason for this was that Erika agreed to be Sabrina's personal servant for the rest of her life. Erika felt bad for the ways she had wronged Sabrina, by nearly marrying Will while Sabrina was in jail, so she lived a life as a servant. She always knelt and bowed down before Sabrina, showing her humility towards her friend.

Cyrus and his commanders hid far away in a place where no one knew them, along with Hunter J. Cyrus and J made love to each other all the time, but claimed to hate each other. Others, such as Gold and Whitney, Gary and Melody, and Candice and Volkner, were married and had their own children.

But in the land of Orre, where Cynthia had been exiled, she had already begun to regain her dark and psychic powers again, which initially had been very weak after her defeat by Arceus and Giratina. And as she became more and more powerful, she forced the people there to make her their queen. They built her a castle, where she sat upon her throne made of pure gold. Her feet rested on two personal footstools: her right foot upon her husband Lucian's head, who was flat on his face before her, and her left foot upon her sister and personal servant Diane's head, who was also flat on her face before her. And Cynthia reigned as queen.


End file.
